The Overhaul
by Anomilee1
Summary: Just wanted to remind everyone that this is an Olake story. If you don't like Olake don't come in here get your feelings hurt then come in my reviews/inbox seeking revenge or validation. This is a free will site. No ones forcing you to ready anything. Just a reminder. Also probably converting this story in to sequential one shots. We'll see.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Okay, so I'm back with the reboot. End Game is still Olake, so no worries.

Summary: The summary basically goes along with the title with a lot of the premises from the last story, Two Lines in the Sand, that I decided to convert over into this one. Olivia said she needs fixing. Everyone on this show needs fixing. Olivia has a lot going on and two months on an island was definitely not enough time for Olivia to begin to fix her issues, as evident by the fact that she is back in D.C doing the same old stuff and soon to be people. This story will basically be about Olivia and her redeemable supporting cast working through their issues and actually trying to find happiness while also dealing with a huge repercussion from her time on the island that will throw things even more off balance and make it more terrifying causing her to reach out to someone from her past for help, which may or may not help the situation.

P.S. If you are one of those annoying Olitz people that have nothing but empty hate to spill towards anyone with a difference of opinion from you I am officially considering this a No Flex Zone. We do not carry troll feed and we don't sell soap boxes, so unless you have something fruitful to contribute, rather it be a respectable opinion, constructive criticism, or just your thoughts on the story or the show please feel free to do so. I realize not all the Olitz people are psychotic, and some of them may even be able to stomach an Olake fic so basically if you are of reasonably sane mind you are welcome, other wise you will be ignored. I mean because really...really? How off do you have to be to attack real people over a television show and then expect that strangers care about your judgement of them. I said it before and I'll say it again, people are crazy. But enough of my babbling, enjoy the story and** leave a review at the end!**

* * *

It was getting dark. God, she had let hours of her life go by sitting in the corner of her bedroom crying, lamenting over what could be, or what she felt should have been. She wanted to get up off of the floor, but she felt like she didn't deserve to. How in the hell had she gotten caught up in this affair and constantly found herself on the losing end? It hadn't started off like this. No, it had started off as a spontaneous fling with some emotions which she could only describe as lust at the time. It had been equally as wrong when it started, seeing as how he was then and is now currently married. But it had been fun, it had been her thing. It was what she did when it came to men and getting her metaphorical rocks off. She had managed to stay away from married men for the most part and she had never let herself fall too hard for them, and had definitely never let herself fall for them more than they had fallen for her.

The point was she had been independent since the day her father had sent her off to that boarding school, two years after her mother had died. Well, fake died anyway, though she didn't know that at the time. No her poor little twelve year old self had spent countless nights crying herself to sleep and wondering how the hell she was going to survive without her mother, especially since her father had suddenly done a one eighty on her. Though now looking back on it maybe they both had made a ninety degree change, only in the opposite direction. But he was supposed to be the father, the adult in the situation. He was supposed to have handled it better than he had, better than she had. It was normal for a twelve year old girl to lash out after losing her mother, and it was normal for a father to lose control for a little while, but at some point the scare of further loss and loss of control was supposed to make said father start getting things back in line, but nope, not her dad. He was far too stubborn for that, and to think back on it now, he had had access to her mother this entire time, so he definitely should have been able to handle things a little bit better than her no matter how devastating the truth was compared to the lie that he had forced her to live. But he wouldn't admit to his mistakes and he would not concede to a fourteen year old about to start high school still figuring out how to grow up into a young woman without her mother or any other female figure there to help guide her, or any male figure for that matter as they had never been more withdrawn from each other as they had been the day she had left to attend that boarding school.

'Fine!' she had thought as any rebellious teenager would have. He didn't have to want her around, because she didn't need him. She had never needed him as far as that sassy little teenage girl was concerned. What had he ever done for her anyway? She could find no valid answer to that question at the time.

She closed her eyes as another tear rolled down her cheek. Her life was so screwed up. She never had a freaking chance. Her hand slowly caressed her stomach, willing it to soothe as she felt a little nauseous. Her emotions were starting to overwhelm her again. She curled in further on herself, as she lay on the pillows on the floor in the corner of her progressively darkening bedroom. What the hell was wrong with people anyway? Why did they decided to have kids then do shit, well were already doing shit, that was not compatible with being a good parent or raising a child into a mentally and emotionally healthy adult. She willed her thoughts away from that subject as they were hitting too close to home given her current situation.

But she had gone to that boarding school, and there had been a lot of pleading and crying that day. But she had not let him see her shade a single tear, not one. She had rolled her eyes, flicked her recently straightened hair and stalked away from that car, pulling the last of her personal things behind her and never looking back. She had vowed at that moment, never to be dependent on him again or anyone for that matter unless it was on her terms. And though at fourteen with a strained relationship with her only living parent or adult relative, she didn't have much resources, she did have a tight little teenage body, a fierce, outgoing, confident attitude along with a will to survive and succeed, and a brain in her head that allowed her to think, or manipulate if need be, her way through anything that the previous things weren't able to get her through, which were slim to none at that age, considering the things a teenage girl strives to be.

She had quickly become one of the 'it' girls of the school which was weird because she didn't necessarily hang with the most popular girls at the school and tried to keep an open mind towards the outcasts, considering she had felt like she had been outcast from her home and her previous life. But she had taken the richest, most popular girl's boyfriend and did not take any shit from 'the pops' as she remembered calling them. Within no time she had gathered her own following, a group of girls that had been considerably rich, even if not as rich as the pops and in her opinion even hotter than them.

Liam. That had been his name. Her first boyfriend. A boy she had stolen from Alex, the head bitch in charge before she had arrived. He was seventeen and was the son of a U.S. ambassador. His grandfather had founded a company, that currently wasn't quite in the fortune five hundred back then, but had slowly been making its way towards just that, and had eventually succeeded. Yes, she had stolen Liam from Alexandria, though she had been oblivious that she was doing so at the time, as she was just beginning to get acquainted with her sexual prowess and the power she could have over people, especially stupid boys that were crippled by their inability to think straight as soon as they say something that could possibly qualify as acceptable for them to hop in the sack, or up against the outside wall of the northern most building on campus, with. He had been rich and he had lavished her with gifts. The first time was by accident. She had been stressed and he had noticed her distraction when he had tried to have sex with her for the second time in their relationship, and the second time in her life. She had told him that she had run out of money in her funds and refused to call her father and ask him for more money as he had adamantly told her that the money he had sent her at the beginning of the semester was to the last her that entire semester. Two days later she had found her account positive five hundred dollars and had wondered what the hell had happened until she had talked to Liam later on that afternoon. After that, she had found her account being credited five hundred dollars every two weeks throughout the length of her relationship with Liam, which lasted until he graduated and a little while after. She may have been only fifteen at the time, but she was definitely not stupid enough to let a good thing go once she had it. But Liam had graduated and though the money was good, she had missed the companionship and that push-pull feeling of a relationship, even though she knew she would win the tug-o-war most of the time. So, by the time the beginning of her sophomore year rolled around she had dropped Liam, and picked up Michael.

He was fun, one of the newly minted seniors, rich parents, on his way to inheriting their fortune and their place in the business world. He wasn't as mature as Liam had been, and he irritated her more often than her first boyfriend but that was okay, because this is where she was truly introduced to her wild side. And that side of her became more prominent over the next few years of her life. This was the side that most of her friends, including Abby loved about her in their younger years.

Abby. She just could not help but to push people away. It seemed that she was not meant to hold on to a somewhat healthy relationship for a prolonged period of time. She was surprised she had had Abby as long as she had seeing as how that was the healthiest relationship she was in at the time, but now even that was in jeopardy. Not that they had never had a fight over their ten plus year friendship. They had had some knock down drag out fights, especially in law school before they had learned which punches to pull and what hits to take when it came to each other. But they had never come remotely close to consciously abandoning each other in the shark infested waters that was Washington D.C. They had effectively left each other to fend for themselves and it seemed that each had found successes and failures in doing so. The truth was she was actually feeling a little guilty for leaving so suddenly like she had. She knew that the people she surrounded herself with depended on her, but it was hard holding everyone else up when you had faulty foundations to begin with. She needed to get away…

After the break up with Michael, there had been Chris, and then Ryan, and after that she had just decided it better, and more fruitful to not make a monogamous commitment to anyone for a while. After all, she could still get what she needed from them without being their official girlfriend, whatever that meant in high school. She picked and chose what she wanted from each. Some were really smart and good to study with and they helped to keep her focused so she could get out of that god forsaken place in the middle of the woods somewhere, though she was sure that location afforded unique opportunities to get in trouble when compared to other schools. Some of those situations turned out pleasant, some of them… not so pleasant. Others were good for conversation that was not related to school. Then there were those who had the outside connections to get what they would call contraband. Some were great as sex, others for status, monetary funds, or whatever else her devious teenage mind could think of at the time.

By the second half of her high school career she had realized that she liked to party. She really liked to party. And being on a secluded campus with a bunch of ridiculously rich and privileged teenagers overcome by hormones and stupidity, with no parents around and too many of them for the school staff to keep adequate tabs on, there were numerous opportunities to party. Her junior year also came with a nice surprise of having her best friend joining her at the school. Anna was three years younger than her, just making the birth date cut off to be two years behind her in school. She and Anna had grown up down the block from each other and the girl was also one of her only blood relatives that she knew of. They were related through her father and Anna's mother, who were sister and brother. She barely remembered Anna's mother as the woman had died during childbirth, but figured her to be her father's only living relative as she could not remember meeting anyone else from his side of the family. Anna's father, Joseph had then moved closer to them as he found taking care of a new born, working, and grieving the lost of his wife to be overwhelming. It was supposed to only be temporary but they had stayed close, and she was sure Anna's father had gotten involved with B6-13 probably through her father. She and Anna had been extremely close as the younger girl looked up to her as a big sister and she took a protective caring attitude towards her, behaving as a good older sister would. And low and behold, the girl had followed in Olivia's footsteps of being a little too independent and rebellious for her father to deal with and was sent to the school.

The girl was a little more innocent and reserved than Olivia at that time, but that was mostly in part due to Olivia herself shielding her when she could from the ills of the world which she was quickly becoming privy too, at least she thought, because she really had no clue at sixteen how evil the world could be, but she was starting to get the picture.

Anna had quickly joined Olivia's already established group of friends and had picked up partying with the group also. She also had some friends her age, mostly due to her roommate Heather. The girls had partied, a lot. And that year was one of the first times that she remembered failing Anna.

She felt bile rise in the back of her throat at the thought and figured she had a little too much emotions flowing through her at the time for the small being trying to exist inside of her to handle. She quickly rose from the floor, at the last second fighting off the urge to vomit right there and lay in it for the remainder of the night.

* * *

After expelling the liquids of her stomach, she slowly made her way to her closet to pull out some clothes. It was just dinner with her father, any old thing would do she decided. If she was honest, Mellie's wardrobe for the past couple of months was beginning to looking pretty enticing right about now.

She pulled out a silk powder blue shirt with buttons half way down the front with some black pants that were designed to be a little baggy in the waist, which was actually great for her slightly larger than normal midsection. She pulled on a black cardigan to hide the bright blue that certainly did not match her mood. She wanted to be dressed in all black, to go unnoticed under the recently darkened sky. She pulled on some black boots, grabbed her bag and headed out of the door, put on the façade that she always showed to everyone else and fighting off the will to retreat back to the corner of her bedroom.

* * *

She sat at the table unknowingly staring at the plate of food in front of her. First it had started out as fear of vomiting all over the dinner table at just the smell that caused her to stare at the roasted duck as if she was waiting for it to move, but that thought had long left her mind as her mouth actually began to water at the aroma given off by the meal that sat in front of her. Still she had been lost in other thoughts, and she had not even noticed that she had still been staring and not eating.

"What's the matter, Olivia? Did I pick the wrong wine?" her father's voice broke her from her stare off with the duck breast on her plate.

She jumped and forced a smile as her eyes veered in the direction of the intruding voice. "What?" she asked, not having heard what he had actually said, but only responding to her name.

"The wine," he pointed out, "you haven't touched it."

She looked at the wine and blinked, the smile disappearing from her face as she hesitantly picked the glass up and sat it further away from her. "Not really in the mood for wine tonight," she had responded. To which her father feigned exaggerated shock.

"Oh," he stated, his eyes going wide. "Well considering you've been even quieter than usual tonight, which I didn't think was possible, whatever it is that's bothering you must really be serious."

Again she just looked at him, blinked once. God she wanted so badly to have somebody to divulge this stuff to. But the man in front of her really was not an option. No matter how far her and her father's relationship had come from where it had once been, she still did not feel comfortable being vulnerable with him. And Jake, the current subject that was bothering her so much, was of no help as his voice rang in the back of her mind reminding her not to trust her father. God she really wished he was here right now. He seemed the only one willing to be truthful with her, and she had to admit that he was a lot better at reading the sick twisted bastards that were B6-13, and yes that included her father, unfortunately.

A long story short, she had left her father's house feeling worse than when she had arrived. Something about their conversation didn't sit right. That had prompted a series of events that had landed her back on the floor in the dark corner of her apartment. She had called Fitz the following day, after not really being able to sleep well that night which was due to the conversation with her dad. He had clearly known something about Jake that he wasn't telling her. Cyrus was conveniently unavailable when she had called him, and Abby was clearly still working through her abandonment issues. Cyrus had shown up at her apartment just hours earlier informing her of where Jake was and why he was there, and then he had abruptly left informing her that he had never been there, and they definitely had never talked about Jake and the crimes he may or may not have committed, though everyone besides her seemed really convinced. She had then confronted her father, which had gone about as well as Cyrus's visits, but again something just didn't sit right.

There was just too much shit going on at one time. Kathryn, Jake, Fitz, her dad, Abby, the dead teenager that had gotten shot right in front of her, Huck clearly had some extra issues going on which she really didn't want to broach right now and that made her feel really guilty for removing herself again, and then there was her baby. Let's be honest, that was really the thing that was throwing all of this out of whack. Granted all the extra stuff going on with the people in her life was stressful enough and being that her current client was an old friend, made it a little more personal. She dealt with the unbalanced people every day, she could deal with their extra-ness, though it would have been great if they didn't decide to coordinate their cycles to the same time frame. At least Quinn wasn't currently giving her any troubles, she mentally crossed her fingers. But the baby thing threw everything off. Babies were supposed to bring a time of joy and excitement and bright expectations for the future, but right now, she felt confused at best.

Confusion was actually progress. She would describe her first reaction to the ultrasound picture as horror. Yeah, that was putting it lightly. She had kept it to herself, and thankfully had had a lot of distractions trying to readjust to her life in D.C after returning from the island. Then she and Jake had had this little back and forth thing that she still wasn't sure what the reason was, but she had finally decided to be the adult about it and tell him about the baby. The first night she had invited him over for dinner, she had gotten a phone call before they could even get to their food and she had chickened out and run off to rescue someone else. The thought had crossed her mind to yell out 'By the way, you're going to be a father, congratulations,' and run out of the door only to avoid his phone calls for the next few days. Thankfully she hadn't, but unfortunately she had had no clue how good that idea would become in the next few days when she could not find him. She had invited him over again for dinner, she had actually cooked the food herself. She had had all intentions of telling him about the baby that night, but he had not shown up and she had not been able to contact him since then. So now here she was, alone, surrounded by chaos, with a baby on the way, and the father was possibly about to be placed on death row for unauthorized murder, if that made sense. She was about to bring a helpless, innocent life into this chaos in the next six months or so and she would be responsible for protecting and guiding that life into something brighter than anything that she was currently surrounded by. She felt guilty, extremely guilty. She was pregnant with her first child and she felt…guilty.

This was the thought that prompted her to pick up her phone and dial a number that she rarely dialed, another thought that made her feel even guiltier if possible.

The phone rung three times before someone picked up. She honestly didn't know what to expect. She didn't expect to be turned away but it was always something going on with this girl. She started to hang up at the thought that maybe she was inviting more chaos into her life, but when she heard the voice on the other end, she was convinced of her initial plan.

"I need your help," was how she decided to greet the person on the other end. If she had learned one thing was that if anyone could help her 'handle' her family, extended family included, it was a member of said family. And it was time to pull out the big guns.

* * *

A/N: Ahh, that is the first chapter. I hope you guys are tolerant of my OC as I feel she is the type of character that is missing from Olivia's life and Scandal as a whole. I don't wan't to give too much away about her as you will come to know her better as the story goes on, I think she shares an interesting back story with Olivia but I don't want to give to much away so I'll shut up. I know I am usually intolerant of OCs but I ask you to give her a chance. I can relate if you just completely hate the idea so just let me know, but I urge everyone to give her a chance.

Again Reviews are Encouraged.


	2. Chapter 2

The phone call had ended with a pounding on the door to which she crawled from the floor of her bedroom to her living room not really sure of what to expect on the other side. Low and behold it was Abby, telling her how she had ruined David's life and how she was poison and that she poisoned everything she came into contact with, which were her exact thoughts at the time and she was starting to fear even more for the baby growing inside of her. She had not had the energy to respond, to fight. She just did not have anything left at the moment. And even though they were currently at odds, her friend was able to pick up on that.

She had spewed everything to Abby and she had broken down, which she would blame on the hormones from the baby if anyone where to question her. Abby had hugged her while she had cried, and fearing that someone had heard her say something about murder, she had quietly ushered the crying woman into the apartment.

"Oh sweetie, I'm so sorry for yelling at you like that," Abby apologized. "Liv I didn't, I didn't know." Abby was scrambling internally for a way to make this right. She had not seen Olivia break down like this in a while, a long while. After settling her best friend on the sofa, she quickly made her way into the kitchen going straight for the wine stash before returning with two large wine glasses and an open bottle of wine.

She sat the two glasses on the coffee table and began pouring wine into the glass closest to Olivia. "Here, let's have some wine so we can both make it through this conversation."

Olivia, finally having somewhat gathered herself enough to speak in full sentences again, replied, "I can't have wine Abby." Hell, she had told her everything else, might as well just lay it all out there.

"Sure you can," Abby reminded her, "wine always makes things at least a little better. And right now, we need it. You, need it."

"No Abby," Olivia said more firmly. "I _can't_ have wine." She emphasized the word can't so Abby wouldn't get it confused with won't.

Abby just looked at her for a second waiting for her to continue. When she didn't, "Why not?"

Olivia just stared at her, again chickening out on verbally saying it to anyone else. She didn't even think she had said it aloud to herself yet.

Abby, being the smart girl that she was got the picture, and she opened her mouth to reply, but her mouth just ended up hanging open with no words escaping. After a few seconds, she just picked up the glass of wine she had poured for Olivia and downed it. Olivia didn't stop her, in fact she envied her. The woman finished the glass in one long sip and looked back to her friend.

After searching her tear filled eyes, she again turned to the wine bottle bringing it up to her mouth. She knew it wasn't lady like, but that wasn't her goal. Her goal was to get as much alcohol into her body in as little a time frame as possible to override her liver and get as quick an effect on her brain, which included her emotions, as soon as possible. Olivia let her finish, using the time to compose herself a little more. The tears had stopped flowing when Abby finally turned to her declaring that she was ready.

They stayed up the majority of the night talking and going through all of the information Olivia had including all of her suspicions and doubts. Abby literally had not seen or heard anything behind the walls of the white house so she was of little use, but she did intend to find out something on the subject. Which would probably land her back working for Olivia which was fine, because really, she would honestly work for Olivia Pope rather than be her. Being the woman's best friend was hard enough.

* * *

It wasn't until the week before her seventeenth birthday that she started actually putting her life into perspective a little more. Traumatizing life events would do that to you, as if she hadn't already been traumatized enough with her mom dying and then her dad sending her away.

It had been their annual fall party where they would sneak into the woods, have a bone fire, listen to music, drink lots of alcohol and have lots of sex. Really people would think they were just horrible spoiled teenagers, but her friends actually weren't all that bad. Severely misguided, yes, also deeply disturbed and hurting looking for a suitable outlet to release their anger and pain without ending up in a mental institution, jail, or a cemetery.

She had been standing near the fire with Angie and Naveen, two of her best friends as Angie was trying to decide which senior boy she was going to lure into one of the many tents they had set up, making him her unsuspecting victim for the night. The party had been just as much fun as they had expected it to be until they heard a scream come from somewhere nearby.

Everyone had stopped to look in the direction of where the scream had come from, but seeing no immediate danger had gone back to their drinking and dancing, thinking it was just some of their classmates goofing around. Then Jess, one of Anna's classmate had broken through the trees and made her way to Olivia begging her to please come quick that Anna and one of their other classmates were in trouble. Her and her friends followed the girl quickly through the woods towards where some of the tents had been set up.

When she had gotten there, she had seen the thirteen year old outside of the tent, sitting in the dirt in her school uniform that had some rips in it. There was also a puddle of vomit sitting right in front of her. At first she thought that the younger girl had just had too much to drink and was in need of a whole lot of water and a good nights and half of tomorrow's rest. She shook her head slightly amused as she walked up the girl and knelt next to her, pushing some of her curls out of her face.

She was about to speak when she heard moaning and panting coming from inside the tent, followed by some soft disorienting pleas to stop. The smile at seeing the intoxicated teen disappeared into a look of horror as she reassessed Anna's condition. The rips in her clothes, they didn't look like the normal rips they would get from their clothes getting snagged on trees as they would get running through the forest.

She heard the soft pleas again, followed by a derogatory term in a vicious tone telling whoever it was making the pleas to shut up. Then there were soft sobs.

"In the tent," Jess cried quietly.

Angie had by this time heard it too, having gotten closer to Olivia and Anna. She pulled back the opening to the tenth and what the girls saw shocked them and made tears come to all of their eyes. There were two sophomore boys on top of one of the freshman girls.

They all stared in horror as the boys quickly gathered their clothes and tried to flee the tent, while the girls were still in shock. Naveen threw a couple of swings their way as the ran by her, but none were as effective as she would have liked them to have been, being as she couldn't see through the tears in her eyes.

"I fought them Liv," Anna cried. "I tried…I fought." Olivia just stared at the younger girl in horror unsure if she had suffered the same attack as the girl in the tent. "I tried to get Lila away from them."

Lila, that was the girl's name. She had seen her with Anna before.

"I couldn't Liv," Anna continued to cry, "I couldn't…focus. Everything was blurry. I couldn't stand. I couldn't get her away from them."

Olivia shushed the girl she was now holding in her arms as her two friends tried to help and redress the girl in the tent. "You're okay. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

* * *

"Liv!," Abby's voice woke her as a hand and something cold pressed against the side of her face. Wait but that wasn't right. She was definitely in her bed. Abby wasn't supposed to be in her bed. Unless she had pulled a Huck and was for some reason staring at her menacingly while she slept just to relay something for which a simple text would have sufficed.

Her eyes fluttered open and before she could become oriented completely, she saw a hand coming towards her face again and managed to dodge it.

"Olivia," Abby fussed sleepily. "Get your phone." Then the prior nights events came rushing back to her, as Abby continued to thrust the phone in her direction.

She and Abby had stayed up talking and had ultimately both retired to her bed after deciding that they were both too exhausted emotionally and physically to get Abby back to her apartment or to sleep on the couch when there was a completely viable bed big enough for the two of them. It had actually helped her to feel better. Like the old days when she and her friends, Abby included for whatever reason would have a wine feast, with or without the crying and crawl into bed with each other to sleep off the effects of the alcohol and pray that they didn't wake up with sore, swollen eyes and a headache that would put them on their asses for most of the next day.

She grabbed the phone from Abby and saw that it had already been answered, Fitz's name on the screen. She grunted into the phone since her eyes were indeed sore and she did have a small headache. That was his cue to start talking.

"Livvie I hope you're not upset with me. I did what I had to do to…" he wasn't allowed to finish.

"No," was her simple response. She could not have this conversation right now. She literally could not.

He seemed to be confused. "No you're not upset?"

"I'm not having this conversation with you right now," she clarified.

"Olivia," he tried.

"Goodbye Fitz," she hung up. She didn't know why she was so severely annoyed. She figured it had something to do with her still being in a sleep induced fog as well as feeling like death warmed over. And she hadn't even drunk anything. She rolled over and fell back asleep.

* * *

"Haven't seen you around here much lately," he stated after a few seconds of her quietly going through the papers his secretary had handed her before walking in.

"I've been busy," she stated not looking up at him. She was completely an utterly unamused by him at this point in time. She was stressed, and he was adding to it. She wanted something, and there seemed to be a wall of people actively stopping her from obtaining it, him included. She felt that vindictive little teenager rearing her overly passive aggressive head.

He walked closer to her as she willfully ignored him.

"Olivia," he reached out to caress her face, but she pulled away.

"I'm busy," she replied coldly, finally turning her eyes to him, "unless you have something useful to add to what I'm reading, I'm going to have to ask you to be a little quieter."

He huffed, before retreating to the sofa across from her, studying her silently. "You really do care for him." She ignored him. "That time on the island must have been something special for you to come back willing to shut me out for him."

"Yeah, and a lot must have happened during my time away for you to be willing to execute an innocent man."

"You don't know he's innocent," was his simple reply.

"You don't know he's guilty," was her comeback.

"Olivia, it was a clean confession," he tried.

"My father was there," she half yelled at him, trying to hold back the tears that tried to force themselves out at the mention of her father. "That alone prevents it from being qualified as clean."

"What do you want from me?" he asked her standing up again.

"Let me talk to him," was her immediate reply as she returned her eyes back to him. "Let me find out what really happened. "

He stared at her for a few moments before replying. "I can't let you do that."

This caused her to let out a frustrated laugh, before she began gathering her papers. "I'm going to take these back to my office to look them over. I'll call Cyrus when I've finished."

She stuffed the papers into her bag before standing and heading towards the door. "Olivia, please," he tried, "sit back down. Let's talk about this."

"There's nothing to talk about," she told him as she turned to face him, her hand on the door knob. "You've made that _very_ clear."

* * *

A/N: Sorry, not much going on in this chapter to the naked eye anyway. Just trying to set the stage for future chapters. Reviews, thoughtful comments are welcomed.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Mwaahahahahhaha...lmao. Next chapter dudes.

* * *

She walked into OPA still carrying the papers she had taken with her from the white house. She was actually a little surprised but even more relieved to see that Huck wasn't in his cave. She needed a moment to herself before starting to take on the rest of the day. Actually it was almost noon, so it surprising to see that the space was empty.

She made her way towards her office thinking that it was empty. As she got closer she could clearly see Abby resting on her couch reading something. She was not expecting her to be there. Yes, the woman had told her that she did not think that she wanted to work for the white house anymore and Fitz and Cyrus both had informed her that she had turned in her resignation. She had thought that Abby was opting to take some time off to rethink things after showing up at her door step nearly three weeks ago yelling at her about how all she does is ruin people. They had talked more that night and she had expressed all the feelings she was having when it came to having a baby under the current circumstances. Abby had agreed and told her she understood then went on to profess her shared disdainful obsession with the life style they were in.

She opened the door slowly, still trying to figure out why the woman was there.

"Abby?" she asked skeptically.

The red head looked up at her and smiled after seeing it was her.

"Oh hey Liv," she said nonchalantly, as if neither of them had ever missed several months of entering the building they were currently standing in. "You need to look at this magazine," she went back to flipping the pages, "it has some really good ideas for nursery themes really nice baby stuff."

Okay, so this is what her being here was all about. She was relieved to finally have an answer for the woman's presence but if she was honest, she was even more relieved to have someone to obsess with over her unborn child, though she was sure they were mostly obsessing in the opposite direction.

"Where you able to get any news on Jake before you left the white house?" she asked her.

Abby sat the magazine down as she saw the polite pleasant conversation she had tried to start to put her expecting friend in a better mood had already taken a left turn. "No," standing from the couch, "they have everything regarding Jake and the president's son's death under lock and key."

She saw a disappointed look cross Olivia's face. "But maybe we might be able to get a little more out of Cyrus if we threaten to expose him for prostitution."

Olivia's head snapped her way, eyes wide and confused. "What?"

"Well not prostitution himself," Abby corrected. "Ew, that wouldn't be profitable."

"Abby, get to the point," Olivia objected having a similar disturbed look as Abby as the woman's words forced an unexpected and unwelcomed picture of Cyrus prostituting himself out.

"He's been soliciting a prostitute," she finished plan and simple.

"How do you know this?" Olivia asked with furrowed brow. She was interested at both a personal level, as Cyrus was her friend and at a business level, since it was possibly information that she could use to blackmail said friend into giving her the information that she wanted.

Abby went on to explain to her all of the evidence that she had to support her claim, which left her pretty much convinced. They had talked for at least an hour and she hadn't realized that the time had gotten away from her. She had to be at the airport to pick up Anna in thirty minutes.

"Anna?" Abby asked after hearing her thoughts she hadn't realized she had made verbal. "Anna Banana?"

This caused Olivia to smile. She hadn't called Anna that in years, and had forgotten that they used to call her that.

She and Anna had really had a sibling type relationship, rather or not they wanted to admit it at times. Even though their relationship had grown rocky after Olivia graduated from high school and left the younger girl behind, it didn't really start to go to hell until Olivia was at least half way through law school. Well, if she was honest it had gone to hell a lot earlier than that, but they had recovered from it, or so they thought and it wasn't something that she liked to actively think about. It was enough that it intrusively evaded her subconscious daydreams as often as it did. But by the time they had effectively stopped talking to each other; though that probably wasn't the best way to put it as they never really stopped talking. It was more of an agreement to ignore each other to keep from experiencing pain. Some people went through things together and it drew them closer together, and for some people it drove them apart. She and Anna had a mix of that. They had grown very close to each other throughout their childhood and young adult years. It was an unbreakable bond. And that bond came in the form of a double edged sword that was fixed between them that they both kept impaling themselves on every time they tried to reach for each other.

She hadn't seen Anna since, she had to think…since a few months before she signed on to be Fitz's campaign manager for his first campaign run. They would talk…occasionally. But they were never distant from each other. Every time they talked, it was as if they had never gone a day without talking to each other, but there was always a hidden tension. It was an unspoken rule that they did not broach certain subjects with each other. The only way she could think to describe it was like word jinga, their relationship was a fragile tower and the wrong words could take them down a path that led to them taking turns plucking out blocks until that tower came crashing down. But, so far, they had always been able to rebuild their tower, no matter how scuffed up or cracked the bricks were.

Abby had met Anna while they were in law school. At that time they were fairly close and the girl came to visit her often as she tried to navigate young adulthood and make it through college. Anna wasn't that much younger than her but there was a difference between a second year law student and a third year college student as Anna had had to set out a year for various reasons she also didn't like to discuss. She had first added the unwanted rhyming fruit to the girls name when they were in high school and she had taken to following her around like a pesky younger sibling would do. Anna hadn't liked it then, but found it to be endearing as she loved Olivia and could tell that it wasn't meant to be mean spirited. She really started to hate it when she would go to visit Liv while she was in college. She and her friends would tease her as she was just a teenager, technically still under the rule of her parents or whichever adult was deemed to be in charge of her at the time and they were newly freed of this confinement. It became more annoying to the young girl anyways. And Olivia had noticed, and though she had laid off somewhat, she had still used it as a tool of pressing Anna's button which is how Abby had come to know about it. Anna was extremely pissed when Olivia and her friends would gang up on her calling her Anna Banana like she was a child. It wasn't the name itself, or that it did imply she was a child compared to them, which she wasn't. It was the fact that she had asked Olivia to stop, and she hadn't. Instead Olivia used her annoyance as a source of amusement for her and her friends. And she didn't like it, a fact she made clear one of the last times she had come to visit and told them all to go fuck themselves, particularly singling out Olivia. This is a good example of their relationship, something seemingly childish setting them off just because it involved the other person.

"Let's try not to bring that up," Olivia told Abby with a smile. Though she still liked the term and liked that it reminded her of days when they were both happier and more innocent, that was one of those bricks that made their tower fragile. She began gathering her things preparing to head to the airport.

"I'll come with," Abby announced following Olivia to the door. This caused Olivia to turn and give her a questioning look. "What? I haven't seen Anna in a while, I want to see her. I miss hanging out with her."

This caused a small smile to appear on Olivia's face before she turned back towards the door, allowing Abby to follow her. That was the one thing about Anna, nearly everyone that knew her loved her. And if they didn't, it was mostly because of her direct attitude. That attitude was what drew people to her, but much like with Olivia, if someone pushed the wrong buttons they would quickly grow to hate her for it. Olivia attacked situations and bad judgments that people made to break them down. With Anna, it was similar, but different. It was like she would observe all of the character flaws and try to accept them in a person, holding her piece until something happened that caused her to snap. Then she would hit every weakness she had come to know with every flaw that she had observed about the person. Come to think of it, she was a lot like Olivia. It was just that she didn't do it to manipulate situations, she did it just to simply get it off her chest and as she would say, expose the person to themselves, whatever that meant.

Olivia got on the elevator and quickly turned around with a worried look on her face. "What?" she was almost afraid to ask.

"Liv, I know you guys are family, but I call dibs on godmother. I really want to be the godmother," she stated with a pleading look.

Olivia shook her head and rolled her eyes, dismissing the comment, but Abby didn't budge.

"You can be the godmother Abby," she said, trying to get the woman on the elevator, she was already going to be late. It did the job as the red head smiled and got on the elevator gleefully. She had almost forgotten about the baby. She silently dismissed the idea that trying to forget about the baby was the reason she had decided to occupy her mind with work again. That wasn't why she had gone back to work, nope. Now all she had to do was keep telling herself that she wasn't trying to avoid the subject of her unborn child and maybe she would believe it.

* * *

"Where is she?" Abby asked as she shifted from foot to foot in front of the baggage claim. According the text messages she had been sending Olivia, Anna had arrived at the airport twenty minutes ago. Olivia had texted her back and told her to wait for them by the baggage claim but she was currently nowhere to be found.

"I don't know," Olivia said distractedly as she also continued to scan her surroundings for the girl that bore, what she thought was a vague resemblance to her. Honestly she wasn't very surprised. A lot of times the woman could be, for lack of a better term, flaky. Though she usually pulled through when Olivia really needed her, which explained her appearance in D.C. just three weeks after she had made that call.

"Hey guys. What's up?" came a familiar voice carrying its characteristic nonchalant tone. Olivia turned quickly on her heals and Abby leaned sideways to get a better look at the person who had just approached them.

"Hey," Olivia said, giving the woman a once over. She hadn't seen her in a little over five years. She looked the same, except for a few changes. Her dimples showed as she bit into the large cinnamon role she had obviously left them waiting to go and purchase.

"Thanks for waiting for us by the baggage claim," Abby said sarcastically.

"What?" the woman responded still chewing. "I got hungry. You were taking too long. I said one forty five Liv, not whenever the hell you felt like it."

Olivia continued to stare at the girl trying to figure out which features had changed. Her slightly slanted almond shaped eyes which housed perfectly arched eyebrows above them still gave off an air of mystery and mischief. Her high cheekbones, that reflected hers though Anna's cheeks were a little fuller and when combined with her dimples made her still look as if she was seventeen years old.

"How have you been?"

"In a state of waiting," she replied without missing a beat.

Olivia rolled her eyes sarcastically and opened her arms as she took a step towards Anna, eager to do something she needed and hadn't been able to do in a while. Anna seemingly feeling the same way also took a step towards Olivia, stepping into her embrace and embracing her back.

"Muah," Anna said placing a kiss on Olivia's cheek, as they pulled away but still had their arms around each other. "I missed you big head."

"I missed you too," Olivia smiled. "You died your hair."

"Yes, I did," she said running her hands through her light brown tresses that flowed past her shoulders. Her hair was still curly, something that Olivia assumed made other people think they looked more alike than they actually did when she would wear her hair curly, though Anna's curls were a little looser than hers. "I was thinking about going blonde, but I think I'll just go back to my natural color and die the bangs silver.

"Oh that'd be cute," Abby said, drawing the women's attention back to her.

"Hey Abs," Anna said reaching to embrace Abby. "I thought you two were fighting."

"We made up," Abby told her.

"I see nothing's changed between you two," she said as she started to walk away, still holding Abby's hand. She needed someone to guide her. She didn't know where they were parked.

They eventually made it to the hired town car Olivia had rented, not feeling like driving through the D.C traffic herself. "So what have you guys been up to?" Anna asked sliding into the back seat. "It looks like you've toned it down some." She took some of Abby's hair in her hand, holding it up and giving a disapproving look before letting it fall back to the woman's shoulders. "Abby, your hair," she left the sentence open.

"There's nothing wrong with my hair," Abby said, in disbelief.

"Ahn," Anna stated, before taking another bite out of her cinnamon bun.

"Liv is there something wrong with my hair. How come you didn't tell me?" Abby started to panick.

"There is nothing wrong with your hair Abby," Olivia reassured her. "We just can't all continue to dress and act like we did when we were in college. Some of us actually have jobs."

"I have a job, Olivia," Anna said. "Just because it's not as boring as yours doesn't mean it's not a real job. Plus if you've still got the body for it." She left the sentence unfinished.

"Give me a piece," Olivia said reaching for the cinnabon, but the woman pulled it back and gave Olivia a look.

"What?" Olivia asked.

"Are you sure you really want to do that, Liv?" she continued after giving Olivia a once over. Olivia's mouth fell open and Abby snickered as she had just had this conversation about how she was starting to look pregnant to her. Olivia had claimed she had not, and Abby had agreed that she probably didn't to people who weren't used to seeing her every day but she could tell. Clearly Anna could see the slight weight gain too, and she hadn't seen her in years.

Anna threw a glance at Abby before turning back to Olivia. "I mean I wasn't going to say anything, but clearly Abby is slacking on her best friend duties, but you've gained a little weight sweetie. Now I'm not saying that that's a bad thing. If you know and are okay with it, I mean by all means be my guest, but I just thought you should…"

"I'm pregnant, Anna," Olivia said exasperated, and just trying to shut Anna up. Okay, so maybe Abby was right. Maybe she had put on a little weight. She had noticed that her clothes didn't fit quiet as well as they used to and found herself wearing more layers than she normally would to try to deny it to herself.

Anna gasped, and almost dropped the cinnabon. She regained control of the sweet roll after struggling with it for a few seconds and her eyes immediately snapped back to Olivia's, mouth agape. "What? You couldn't have told me this on the phone Olivia? I'm so angry with you right now." She finished embracing Olivia again. "So that's why you're dressing like that. You're preparing for Mommy hood."

Olivia bit the inside of her cheek. Sure, she dressed more conservative than she had back when she would see Anna more often, but that was before she became the campaign manager slash crisis manager for the president of the united states. She took in Anna's dress that came midway her thigh dipping low in the front and opening up in the back showing off her cleavage and well-toned back, the heels that she wore with them accentuating her toned legs. Okay, so maybe she missed the party girl life a little bit, just a little. But she had plenty to keep her occupied in her current grown up life, though she had to admit the party girl life wasn't nearly as stressful as being an adult. She envied Anna a little bit.

"What do I dress like Anna?" Olivia asked sounding a little offended, waiting to hear her reply.

Anna looked at Olivia with a look of confusion and interest. It usually wasn't this easy to push her buttons. It hadn't even been an hour yet. She turned to Abby and whispered just to feign politeness though she knew Olivia could still hear her. "Wow, someone's touchy. Must be the hormones."

Olivia rolled her eyes before she snatched the cinnamon bun from the girl, tearing a piece off before handing it back to Anna. This was going to be…an experience, she thought to herself.

"Just so we are clear," Abby stated, "I'm the godmother."

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A/N: **Read!: I know this seems like a lot of this OC but she is basically going to play a big part in why Olivia is the way she is in this story. Like I said before I wanted to take a different angle in this story and the angle is more Olivia focused at first but will become more Olake focused as it goes on, but lets be honest, Liv is slipping and I honestly just want her to fight back rather it's Olake ornah. I know I'm not the only one just repeatedly disappointed anytime she makes a move towards Fitz. I just can't with them. Also I think its interesting the foreshadowing Shonda gives in HTGAWM of Liv's future if she chooses Bitchgerald Grant. "That's what I get for sleeping with another woman's husband." Annalise. "Preach!" Me LOL. ****Reviews are welcomed!**

And to team Olake, P.O.P hold it down. It's all good, PIMP squad baby for life!

Damn Amanda Tanner! Shonda ain't giving you a break huh?


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Here's another update. I was supposed to do this yesterday, but I ended up doing the Read Between the Lines parody of that scene.

Again, the reason why I'm trying to build Anna's relationship with Liv so much is because like I said it plays a huge part in this story of how Olivia evolved to be the person she is and also, I don't want to make Jake Olivia's night in shiny armor, because we all know like him or not Jake really was never meant to be the hero. And also, every woman needs relationship with another woman that has a rock solid core. I thought Liv and Abby would have that relationship in the show and even though they are starting to inch towards that area in the last few episodes its not as strong of a relationship as the one I'm trying to build here. And I also don't want Jake to be her only option for peace, security, and solace. I'm not down with that, and sometimes you just need your girl because men are stupid lol. Anyways, hope you enjoy.

* * *

She struggled trying to get the keys in the door. Her vision was blurry, and she could feel the tears falling from her eyes down onto her hand. Maybe this hadn't been a good idea after all, not with everything else going on. But she had to see him, she had to make sure that he was alive and relatively well, which he seemed to be for the most part. But his face was bruised and his left eye was almost swollen shut.

She somehow managed to unlock the door to her apartment and she hurried inside, slamming the door shut and locking it before leaning her back against it. She let out a shaky breath and now allowed the tears to flow freely and silently down her face. She slid her back down the door until she was sitting on the floor.

They had come back to her place after picking Anna up at the airport, allowing her to drop off her luggage. Abby had suggested that they all go out for dinner later to which Anna had declined stating she had some business to tend to. Olivia had pointed out that the woman did not live in D.C and inquired what business she could possibly have in the city after just getting off of the plane a couple hours ago. She replied back simply, "Like I said Liv, I have a job."

After much prodding, Olivia had been able to get more information out of Anna and found out that she was meeting one of her friends to see about performing at various venues around the city. This caused her to relax a little. She hadn't meant to pry, but she knew that the younger woman was new to the city and much like the people not intimately involved in the politics that went on there, she was oblivious to how many evil people that were running around. Not to mention Anna had a knack for getting herself in some questionable situations.

Anna was a dancer, singer, songwriter as she would describe it, and no one could deny that she was talented. Olivia loved to hear her sing, and she would always write these cute little songs for Olivia when they were little girls. She continued to makes songs for her as they got older but they seemed to be more spontaneous and not so cute. It went from themes like 'I love my Livvie because she takes care of me and I want to be like her so much so I'm just going to follow her around everywhere' to 'Olivia annoys me so much and I have to annoy her back, so let me make up a song on the spot about something that has just happened that I know will piss her off.' And even though Olivia thought Anna was very talented at music, she believed her greatest talent was always dancing, something she was still secretly proud of introducing her to. Olivia herself, used to dance when she was a little girl, and had been the reason Anna had ultimately wanted to attend classes. Anna had even had the option of going to Juilliard at one point, she had even flown out every weekend her last year of high school to take part in a pre-college program they had had there, but due to some life events she wasn't able to take advantage of the opportunity. That was the way Olivia always phrased it to herself, it just sounded better.

After grabbing a quick bite to eat with Abby, she had gone out to handle some business. Then suddenly she found herself surrounded by secret service agents. She rolled her eyes and went along with them, because honestly, she was currently being shut out from white house business that she wanted to be involved in and opting not to take part in other parts of it and she was starting to feel like she was losing even more control over her life because of it. She needed to know something and this was her opportunity.

To her surprise she had actually been taken to the pentagon where she had been led to Fitz, which was not so surprising. He had informed her that he was allowing her to see Jake and basically that he was going to take him down if he saw something he did not like. She had simply nodded before the door was opened and she was allowed to enter.

She had managed to build up a good front upon entering the room, ready to get the full story from him and not show how vulnerable she had been feeling with everything going on currently in her life. She expected him to be sitting, serious but still having something endearing to say to put a smile on her face, and possibly some lighthearted banter by the end of it because it was what he did, it was what they did. Her face had fallen when she had actually caught a good glimpse of him and she had stopped in her tracks. This was not what she had expected. All the memories of him showing up at her door emaciated and covered in dirt, blood and dirt matted in his hair with various cuts and bruises about his face and body. She tried to push those thoughts to the back of her mind and she could feel herself starting to hyperventilate a little, trying to get more oxygen to her brain and trying to stay upright.

He had noticed also, and refusing to let her retreat too far into her own head, he had started talking. He didn't need the emotionally in touch Olivia that was going to go all I'm going to get you out of here on him, he needed the fixer, the woman who handled things that people required her to handle. He was going to die and he needed to tie up some loose ends with the only family that he had left, and she was the only he could trust to do that, because he was going to die. It's not that he doubted her ability to get him out of it, though it was a tall task even for her. It just that he knew she had a lot going on and he doubted his value to her to be able to stay focused on him long enough to get him out of there.

She took a step towards him, wanting to initiate some type of contact with him. She wanted to throw herself into his arms and cry like she had done so many times before and she wanted to yell at him because he had clearly done something she was unaware of to make her father suddenly turn against him again and have him thrown into an isolated cell in the dungeons of the pentagon. Something had to have happened between the time of her father allowing her to go to an isolated island with this man, inviting him over for dinner, and then having him thrown into prison. If her father made up his mind to fake like someone, he would continue to fake like them until they gave him a reason to turn against him. Yes, she allowed her father to believe that she was unaware of the fact that he was actually aware of the fact that Jake was on that plane with her when she went to that island. The man who had tried to control everything in her life and would often times boast about how he did was unaware of the passengers that were on a plane that he had sent to go to a remote place that only he and the pilot knew of. Yeah sure, she believed that.

She couldn't, however, throw herself into Jakes arms because; there were people outside waiting to take him down as it was phrased to her. She looked at the window, and was about to wrap her hands around her midsection suddenly feeling protective in the cold, isolated environment. She opted for folding her arms in front of her in a defensive stance, not wanting to draw attention to her midsection that was apparently larger than it had been in the past. He followed her gaze knowing exactly what was happening, and it was fine because again, he did not need that Olivia right now. He didn't need or want to be felt sorry for, he was going to die and awful death, and he was fine with that. He had accepted it the moment he had been informed that he was now a part of this top secret organization and that he had no choice about it. He didn't need to be coddled, he had never been coddled, not even when he was a child and should have been. He did however, want to hold her and let her know that he was fine and that she didn't have to worry about him, but he knew he wouldn't be allowed to do that. So, business as usual. He also didn't want her to harbor any guilt about his death, because she beat herself up about things like that.

There had been few words spoken after that and they had just sat there, drawing comfort from each other's presence, as much as they could anyway with the thoughts racing through their minds.

"I'm sorry," he said suddenly, causing her to look from the spot she had been staring at on the floor and back towards him.

She waited for him to continue but he just continued sitting there staring at the floor himself. "Jake," she said shakily, cursing herself for still sounding so weak.

"For not being there," he finished, knowing what she was going to say. He finally looked up at her and she was staring at him intently, confusion still showing on her face.

He started again, "I told you that you weren't going to have to go through this on your own, that I would be there for you, that I," he paused. "That I wasn't going anywhere and," he paused again, "I'm sorry."

He saw her brows furrow again as she finally realized what he was saying and he couldn't take her looking at him like that. He couldn't watch the pain on her face knowing that he was helpless to stop it. So, he turned away from her and looked back towards the floor.

She had grown angry with him in that moment. How could he give up on her so easily, give up on himself so easily? She had also made a promise to him, and unlike him she intended to keep her promise. She rose from the chair she had been sitting in with a new determination. She was going to find out the truth, because she was more convinced now than ever that Jake had nothing to do with the death of Harrison or Jerry, and like he had said that it was all her father's doing.

The determination would have to be put on hold, at least throughout the night, as she felt herself mentally and emotionally crashing on the ride back to her apartment, the weight of their visit finally taking its toll on her and the baby, as she had to keep herself from vomiting several times on the way home. This had led to her currently sitting on the floor up against the door to her apartment, crying her eyes out.

"Liv?" she heard a hesitant voice come from somewhere in her apartment. She looked up to see Anna, giving her a full view of the tears rolling down her face. Anna quickly made her way over to her.

"What's wrong? What happened?" she asked kneeling down on the floor next to her.

Olivia continued to cry and say names and words that made no sense to Anna since she could not understand the context in which they were being used.

"Okay, okay sweetie," she stated as she began pulling Olivia up from the floor. "I can't help you if I don't know what you're saying to me, so let's just sit here for a minute and pull it together." She had guided Olivia over to the cough and had her sit before going into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"Here, drink this," she handed Olivia the water, but before she could place the glass to her mouth, she felt the acid in the back of her throat again and made a run for her bathroom. Anna went behind her after hearing her retching. She gathered the woman's hair in her hand holding it back from her face as she rubbed her back soothingly.

It wasn't until the stomach convulsions ceased that Olivia felt safe enough to pull herself away from the porcelain bowl. She fell back against the wall opposite toilet she had just been kneeling in front of and ran and hand through her hair, happy that episode was over and praying that nothing sparked another one.

She took note of Anna's quiet disappearance from the rest room and tried to focus more on breathing than on the thoughts that were trying to stomp their way back into the forefront of her mind. 'I'm sorry,' his voice rang through her mind and she closed her eyes, resting her head in her hand. He had no idea how much weight his words had actually carried. God, he literally had no idea.

She buried her face in her hands, willing the thoughts to go away and willing herself to continue to breath lease she start vomiting again.

"Here," she heard Anna's voice and looked up to see the woman handing her another glass. "It's ale."

She took a breath before beginning to take slow sips from it.

"Brought you these too," Anna added handing her a pack of crackers she had bought from the store a few days prior.

"Thanks," she managed weakly.

"Now, you wanna tell me what that was all about?" the woman asked as she took a seat across from Olivia, her back against the cabinet counter.

Olivia looked at her and saw the concerned look on her face. She also took note of the surprisingly non sarcastic tone of her voice. Anna smiled at her, showing her dimples that again reminded her of the young girl she used to share her intimate space with like this all those years ago, and she couldn't help but to give a small smile of her own. Right now, she had her Anna back, and that mattered more than anyone could ever know.

She took a deep breath and sighed, "Where to begin?"

Anna sensing that the worst part of the crisis was over replied, "The beginning, duh."

This got another smile out of Olivia and she smiled back, as the woman started off literally from the beginning, which she had not been expecting. When she realized Olivia had started off from five years ago, a month after the last time they had seen each other, she paused her older cousin and informed her that she was going to go pop some popcorn because it looked to be a long night. By the time she returned back to the room, she found Olivia sitting on her bed with her legs folded underneath her. Anna laid down on the bed next to her.

"Okay, I'm all ears," she said stuffing a hand full of popcorn into her mouth.

And Olivia started from the beginning, telling her everything.

* * *

A/N: Let me know what you guys think about this character and how the story is progressing. I will review this later after I take the English class I enrolled in to fix any typos lmao.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N:Hey, I was supposed to post this a couple of days back, but then there was the whole 'I choose me' thing that had me hugging my television and then they went and snatched her when she was finally making an effort to get her head back on straight, and I was sad, so I avoided Scandal related things for a couple of days lol. Because that was too quick and vast of an emotional swing and I was not prepared for it. Plus rain has ruined my weekend so, here's the next chapter. I'm going to start trying to speed it up a little bit towards the end, because we need to get the news out about this baby and get some reactions to it.

* * *

"This isn't one of those important things that's not really as important as we are pretending it is and we can actually sleep in a little bit longer, is it?" Anna asked as she peeped out from under the covers, looking up at Olivia who was standing over her.

"I'm leaving in twenty minutes was her response," as she walked away and back towards her bathroom to finish getting dressed.

Anna sucked her teeth and frowned before throwing the covers off of her and swinging both legs to the side of the bed. "How are you awake anyway?"

They had literally fallen asleep two and a half hours ago after staying up talking all night. Olivia had said a lot of things, a lot of which Anna had to stop her to ask more questions or reclarify things for her. Like when she had asked Olivia to tell her again on three different occasions what exactly it was that she did at OPA. Or how she asked different questions about Fitz, like 'So he wants to have a family with you, is he aware that he's not actually raising the children that he has?' But that was only after she had asked where exactly was Teddy and Karen most of the time. Or what would happen if Olivia wasn't actually the one like he seemed to imply that he thought she was, what would happen to her when he really met THE ONE. A lot of these questions Olivia had gone quiet after and or completely ignored all together, and Anna sensing she needed a pass, had let her slide, but had kept a mental note of all the questions she still needed answers to. Then she had asked questions about Mellie, like how come she hadn't been arrested for attempting to do grave bodily harm to either her or Fitz. Or had Mellie ever seen Waiting to Exhale, Fatal Attraction, or any episode of Snapped. She hadn't waited for Olivia to answer before going on about how there were actually some people with some great ideas that had actually gotten away with it and that you don't play with people's feelings like that, then she had turned to Olivia and asked her had she ever seen any of the Snapped episodes. Olivia had politely redirected her, trying to focus on catching Anna up rather than the fact that if the roles were reversed, she would probably be asking the same types of questions. Then she had had questions about Huck and Quinn, with passing comments about Abby since she already knew her and just needed to be caught up on some things. She had asked if Stephen had been attractive, to which Olivia had showed her a picture. She had then proceeded to ask Olivia why she hadn't gotten with Stephen to which Olivia had replied they were friends. The next few minutes were filled with Olivia trying to thwart Anna's attempt to tell her all of the things physical in nature she would have done to Stephen, friend or not. She had then gotten onto the subject of Jake, to which Anna had also asked questions that included 'Can he teach me to make people disappear?' She had also stated that she wanted to broach the subject with Huck, but he hadn't seemed as approachable as this Jake guy. And she had let out an exaggerated gasp when Olivia had revealed that Jake was the father of her soon to be baby. She had opted to not reveal their physical involvement until that moment. "Liv, you're having a baby by an ex-military assassin." Olivia had stared at her, trying to find the words to answer that question. She had thought Anna was judging her, but she had obviously forgotten just who Anna was. "How's the sex? Tell me it's as good as I think it is. Tell me," she had tried to continue but Olivia had managed to redirect her back to the more pertinent issues, being successful after about the fourth try. She had repeated the Stephen discussion with Harrison, and after getting her back on tract again, she had then broached the subject of her parents to which Anna had stayed mostly quiet and they had even shed a few tears together as Olivia recounted seeing her mother again for the first time. And then that had led up to the current situation of Jake being held at the pentagon on pending charges of double murder.

After all was said and done, they hadn't fallen asleep until about five thirty and now it was 8:10am and Olivia was up and about as if she had had a full night's rest, getting ready for a nine am obstetrics visit. Anna had promised she would go with her, but she was starting to rethink that promise.

* * *

"So how pregnant are you anyway?" Anna asked as they made their way down the street.

"If you mean to ask how far along I am, four months," Olivia replied.

"Okay, and tell me how exactly did this happen again," she asked.

"Oh com'on Anna," Olivia started jokingly, "I gave you this talk when you were twelve."

"Yes, but you also spent the next five years after you found out I had lost my virginity telling me to protect my neck."

Olivia laughed, as Anna linked arms with her. "First off, I'm pretty sure that wasn't the terminology I used. And secondly, I also remember you calling me freaking out about being late on multiple occasions."

"Okay, it was only twice and I was nineteen," Anna reminded her. "You are a grown up."

"Yeah, the second time was two years ago," Olivia looked at her as they stopped in front of the doctor's office.

Anna pursed her lips before replying, "I'm not a grown up Liv."

"And just what constitutes a grown up to you?"

"Anything more than two years my senior," she replied matter-of-factly.

"So what do you call people your age that have multiple kids?" Olivia questioned.

"Babies having babies," Anna told her with a straight face. The woman then walked into the doctor's office leaving Olivia to look after her. She hurried inside when she saw Anna actually walking up to the front desk to check her in. She was sure that was going to be followed by some outlandish requests that involved her body and her unborn child that she would probably not be particularly fond of.

* * *

"I thought you had dance to go to," Olivia stated as she realized Anna was still following her as she made her way towards the white house. They had just finished at her doctor's visit and she was currently on her way to visit Abby to see how everything was going and see if she had come up with any new information.

"I do. Maurizio texted he would be a few hours late," Anna replied, as she noticed Olivia giving her a once over. She had left the house dressed to go to the doctor's office and then straight to the dance studio after. And though she had brought a bag with changing clothes for after, she didn't see anything wrong with the black sweater that hung off of both her shoulders, allowing everyone to the see the dark purple, thin strapped sports bra she wore underneath or her lower midriff that the sweater failed to cover. Or the baggy black sweat pants that had a small silver printed "PRIMA" on the left hip area, or the beige UGGZ she wore along with them, though she was starting to regret it as the weather was starting to warm up a little as the day went on. Her hair was in a low messy bun. "Why? Are you embarrassed of me, Olivia?"

Olivia knew that Anna was just trying to lure her into a discussion that would end up making one of them uncomfortable. She wasn't embarrassed, but, "No, but I'm going to have a hard time getting you into the white house dressed like that?"

"Really?" Anna asked sarcastically. "And here I was thinking you were head mistress of the place."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "I'm not anyone's mistress, Anna."

"Well not anymore."

"I'm not having this discussion with you right now," Olivia told her.

"Suite yourself. All I know is if it were me, this whole soap opera would have come to a conclusion by now. Either everyone would be free to do whatever the hell they wanted to do and be happy, or they'd be in the middle of making a dark documentary about us."

Seeing as they were approaching the white house gates, Olivia chose to ignore Anna.

"Good morning Morris," Olivia said with a huge smile.

"Ms. Pope," he smiled back. Olivia proceeded to keep walking and Anna followed her. Morris however did not open the gate.

"I'm sorry Ms. Pope but I can't let your friend in," he said

"Why not?" Olivia asked with a forced smile. "I have an appointment with the president. He called me urgently I was in the middle of something."

"Yeah, she can't always just ditch everything or everyone else to be at his beck and call," Anna added, causing Olivia to give her a look as she was not helping the situation.

"Sorry but if she wants in, she's going to have to go through the tourist entrance," he told them matter of factly.

"Look, Morris is it?" Anna asked as she propped herself against the door frame of the guard boot. She didn't give the man a chance to answer before she continued.

Olivia quickly interrupted, though. She knew if she continued to let Anna talk that they would most likely find their way inside of the white house, escorted by security. She grabbed Anna's elbow pulling her away from the guard boot and stepping in front of her.

"Call the president, tell him I'm here. I have a guest I need cleared to get inside," he stated.

"I don't have a direct line to the president from here," he told her as if she was growing a second head. She knew that.

A perplexed look crossed her face. Yeah, she had forgotten that.

She pulled out her cell phone, and hit a couple of buttons before placing it to her ear. "I'm at the gates. I have someone with me that needs clearance." She paused before adding, "Thank you."

She hung up the phone and Morris just looked at her. She could partially see the smirk on Anna's face as she looked at the guard like, 'Now what?'

A few moments later the phone at the guard's booth rang. Morris answered, and after listening he simply replied with an okay before hanging up. He looked at Olivia before turning to Anna. "Can I see your ID Ms."

"King," Anna added for him. "Anna King."

She dug into her bag and pulled out her ID before handing it to him.

"You know this would have saved all of us a lot of time if you'd have just done what we told you to do in the first place," Anna said with a playful seriousness.

Morris laughed before handing the temporary pass and ID back to Anna. "You two ladies have a nice day."

"Oh we will Morris," Anna told him.

"Anna come on," Olivia said without looking back as she was already half way through the gate.

"Oh, this is nice," Anna said with forced enthusiasm. "I've never been inside of the white house before. It's never really…interested me."

"Hey Anna, here's an idea," she said as she navigated her way through the crowded hallways, "why don't you try to be a little less snarky for the rest of the time you're with me."

"I'll try," Anna replied unmoved by the jab, "but no promises, baby. No promises."

They had almost made their way to Abby's office, when she saw Fitz rounding the corner. She paused, causing Anna to bump shoulders with her as she was walking slightly behind her. Of course, she thought. Of course he would come and find her after she had alerted him of her presence. May be that hadn't been such a good idea.

He continued to walk towards her as she stood in place.

"Girl, what is your problem?" Anna asked, having not seen the president standing at the other end of the hall.

"That's funny," he started, causing Anna to look up and see him for the first time, "when you called I thought that meant you were coming to see me."

"I'm here to see Abby," she stated as he stopped right in front of them.

"Really? Well why didn't you call Abby to get you in?" he put his hands in his pocket and looked down at her smugly, already knowing that Abby didn't have the direct ability to clear someone like he did.

"Is there something I can help you with Mr. President?" she asked folding her arms.

Anna stood there staring back and forth between the two of them. She noticed Fitz's facial expression change.

"You've been ignoring my calls," he replied simply.

"Is it important?" Olivia asked looking away from him.

They went silent, him continuing to stare at Olivia as if she was stabbing holes in his body by refusing to look at him and Olivia intentionally focusing on some random spot on the wall.

"Hi, I'm Anna," she stated reaching out her hand and shaking his. "I'm the terrorist spy that they sent to torture all of the countries secrets out of you that you just granted access to." She found it funny that the man wasn't even the least bit curious about whom he had just granted access to and slightly rude that he had failed to acknowledge her presence since his arrival on the scene.

"Anna!" Olivia scolded. "That's not funny. You don't make jokes like that especially inside of the white house."

"Calm down Olivia. Jeez. No one in their right mind would look at me and think I'm a terrorist. Seductress? Yes. But not a terrorist."

"Oh well, would you look at this," there was a voice that Fitz and Olivia instantly recognized. Anna turned around to see the first lady approaching them. "Isn't this sweet. Fitz and Olivia back together again. Should I have Lauren clear out the oval for your midday tryst?"

"Hi, I'm Anna," she stated, again nonchalantly, though she didn't reach out her hand as the first lady did not seem to be in a good mood, and understandably so.

"Why are you here?" Mellie asked bluntly after giving her a once over. "Is he screwing you too?"

"Uhm, no, actually he's not," Anna replied uncomfortably. Usually she would have shared a not so pleasant word or two with Mellie, but the woman had every right to be pissed. Her child had just died and her husband was screwing another woman right in front of her face, or at least trying as Olivia had told her.

"Mellie," Fitz chimed in, "You look different. Did you finally shower?"

She gave him a fake, sarcastic smile before turning back to Anna. "What honey?" Mellie smiled, "It's just a simple question, and a valid one might I add." She didn't miss the resemblance between Olivia and this new woman.

"Are you replacing Abby at Olivia's little law firm?" Mellie continued questioning.

Olivia did not miss Mellie's subtle undermining of her career, but when it came to Mellie, she sometimes found it best to just talk in reference to each instead of directly to each other. Plus, she really had not come to the white house for any of this drama.

"No," Anna answered pleasantly. "We're cousins. I'm a professional dancer, and I do music sometimes."

"So you're a singer?" Fitz said suddenly taking an interest in her. She assumed, after what she had gathered from Olivia the previous night, it was because he had found out that she was a blood relative of Olivia's.

She nodded. "Sing something for us, we would love to hear."

She let out a nervous laugh as she looked around the mostly empty hallway, "Right here?"

"Yeah, why not?" Mellie chimed in. "This place could use some new entertainment; it was starting to get stale around here." She was obviously referring to the Olivia and Fitz affair thing.

Anna looked at Olivia, who was having a stare off with Fitz. She seemed mad while he had smirk on his face. She then turned to Mellie who was looking at Fitz as if she wanted to kick him in the balls, before she rolled her eyes. Yeah, she had the perfect song for this situation.

"Somebody come get me, before I kill this man," the first line of the song caused all three of the people standing around her heads to snap back in her direction. Olivia with a look of shock, Mellie with a look of surprise that was slowly turning into one of amazement, and Fitz's smirk was gone. She continued, with a slight Jamaican flare to the song . "Somebody come get me, cause I don't understand. Him don't want to love me. Said him got a woman down the street. Him don't really love me. Cause if he did, he wouldn't do it." Olivia looked around as if trying to gauge if Anna was really doing this, right now, in the middle of the white house corridors. Yep, she was doing, as she still heard the melodic voice ringing through her ears and two or three people had stopped with smiles on their faces, admiring Anna's voice and the nice little show the president's musical guest was putting on for him. Oh, god. She looked on as Anna started moving her body, and threw a wink Mellie's way after seeing the smile on the woman's face. She closed her eyes and continued to sing "Somebody come get me, before I kill this man. Somebody come get me, before I put this nine in my hand. You hear a shot of one, two, and the noise will bring the boys in blue. Lord have mercy, what did I do?"

"Alrighty, then," Olivia said, finally getting her wits about her to effectively end this. She grabbed Anna's elbow and pulled her the few feet towards Abby's office. She knew she was in there because she had just text before they had gotten there telling her she would meet them there. "Abby, open the door," Olivia said banging on the door, refusing to look back at either Mellie or Fitz and unable to look at Anna for how angry she was with her, though she did keep hold of the woman's hand refusing to let her stray and cause more trouble.

Anna looked back seeing the look of shock and anger on Fitz's face and the huge smile on Mellie's face. "Olivia heard a cheerful, I love touching people with my music," come from the woman behind her as Abby opened the door and she hurried in pushing Abby back in and pulling Anna behind her.

Fitz and Mellie just continued to stare at the closed office door for a few moments, before Mellie spoke. "I like her," she said enthusiastically before walking away leaving Fitz there dumbfounded.

* * *

"Here, drink this," Olivia said sitting a glass of wine in front of Anna.

Anna just stared at her curiously before dropping her bag on the middle bar stool before taking a seat at the one on the end. "Why?"

"Because I can't," was the simple reply.

"Okay, I normally don't go for people forcing me into alcoholism, so you better be lucky I love you…and wine." Anna began taking small sips from the wine glass.

"Fitz handed Jake over to my Dad," Olivia stated, looking in Anna's eyes as if waiting for her to say that it hadn't actually happened and she had actually dreamed it. But by the way Anna began chugging the wine and refusing to look at her, she knew the situation was becoming more and more screwed up by the day. She had to get him out of there, and fast. And that was why she had gone to talk to Fitz as soon as David had informed her of the news. She left feeling like she had gotten the message through to him that he needed to get Jake away from her father as soon as possible, after telling him that there was hope for them. She only hoped that would at least keep him safe until she could figure out a way to prove his innocence.

Olivia let out a sound of distress and covered her face with her hands. "My life, is so, so screwed up." This finally sparked a reaction from Anna.

"No, no sweetie, it's not as bad as you think," she tried reaching across the bar to rub Olivia's shoulder.

"Really?" Olivia looked up at her awaiting more words of encouragement.

Anna, having said that for comfort with no real facts that came to mind at the time to back it up, looked at the wine bottle and then back to Olivia. "And you're sure you're not going to have any wine during this pregnancy."

Anna was referring to the statement Olivia had made earlier, after Anna had asked the doctor about alcohol consumption during pregnancy as she had seen Olivia's wine collection and knew she was an avid connoisseur, plus she just really wanted someone to drink with while she was in town. The doctor had recommended complete abstinence but had told her that she may find some literature that would allow an occasional taste of wine to slide. Olivia knowing how she was when it came to wine, and not knowing what an 'occasional taste' was had opted for the abstinent route, especially after hearing the potential side effects.

She saw tears starting to well up in Olivia's eyes at her last comment. "No, Liv, com'on," she said getting up and walking around the island bar to hug Olivia. "It's really not that bad. The doctor said your baby's healthy, you're healthy, and no one's missing. Some are in questionable situations sure, but as far as we know, you have a good head count on everyone. No one's killed anyone in a while, at least I don't think."

Olivia pulled away from the hug and willed herself to stop crying. Anna was right. She had a healthy baby, a fact that she had mused over during her short down time for the day in her office. They had heard the baby's heartbeat on a Doppler machine and she and Anna had ended up recording it on their phones. The doctor had promised ultrasound pictures during the next visit. After their little situation at the white house, Anna had left for the studio and she had gone back to OPA, locked herself in her office and listened to the baby's heartbeat over and over with the doctor's words ringing in her mind telling her that the baby seemed healthy, and that all of her blood work from the previous visit was fine, and that she would become more and more aware of the small being growing inside of her over the next few months. And though she had been afraid of that before, after hearing her baby's heartbeat for the first time, she was actually starting to look forward to it. She now wanted this baby, and messed up people in her life be damned, she was going to give this child a normal, happy life and anyone who tried to interfere with that would be very sorry. Her bonding time had come to an end though when she had looked up to find Quinn and Huck looking at her through her office window with confusion and concern as she sat there rubbing her stomach and smiling seemingly at nothing.

"So what do we do now?" Olivia asked. After all, this is what she had invited Anna there for.

Anna sighed as she finished pouring herself another glass of wine. "We talk to Pops," she said hesitantly, before taking a sip. "I've always wanted to reconnect with my evil uncle assassin person…Yaaaay."

* * *

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! I am stretching the time here between the arrival back in D.C and the actually getting Jake out of jail. Partially to help push the pregnancy along. I think we can get Jake freed by the next chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Okay I proofed read it, sort of.

* * *

She shifted on her toes, she had finally gotten him out of the claws of the government, her father, and unfortunately for her emotions, Fitz. The train had been set in motion when she and Anna had met with her father, which took her father by surprise, or at least he feigned surprise. She had become a little more savvy to her father's games after he had reentered her life, and something about his reaction told her that he was not as surprised as he pretended to be at Anna's presence. Anna was his sister's only child, and there were only four people Olivia could honestly say that her father cared about, because love would depend on your definition of the word. Her, her mother, Maddie which was Anna's mother, and Anna. As far as her father was concerned, the moment his sister took her last breath was the moment that Anna became his daughter. After watching their interaction at the dinner table, she had an inkling that her father had been as secretly involved in Anna's life as he had been in hers, though because Anna was more of the variety screw everything that has to do with politics or having to impress people with anything other than God given, life changing, inspiring artistic talent, she assumed her father had less reasons to interfere with Anna's life as he had with hers, since she was actually living more in his place of presence. They had chatted lightly, Anna being a little more closed off than she normally would after learning about her uncle's actual job description. They had eaten, drank wine, and pieced together a casual conversation. But casual and subtle never went over well with any of them. Those genes did not seem to run in their family. It had started with her father asking if Anna had anyone special in her life, too which Anna rattled off a few of her gay male friends clearly being a smart ass announcing they were all gay. She had then turned to Olivia and asked her if she had anyone in her life "possibly wrongfully incarcerated or otherwise." This is one of the reasons she had asked Anna to come to D.C. She got it. There was no beating around the bush or playing nice in these familial situations. She knew how to take hits as well as deliver them. Well at least she used to, Olivia just hoped that that was still the case. So far so good.

They had then continued to smile and give the impression that they were having nice warm interactions with smiles and all of the other niceties, giving off a convincing illusion. But the subject was anything but. She had informed him that he had had no right to detain Jake and that she would find a way to clear his name. The conversation had spiraled and had led to her walking out on him again, leaving Anna to gulp down her glass of untouched wine before following her out of the restaurant.

That had then led to her going to visit Fitz that night leaving Anna behind with a "Naw, I'm okay here." She had informed him that there would never be anything between him if he let Jake succumb to the vengeance of her father. He had then pressed her asking her if there was still hope for them, to which she had finally conceded yes. The truth was she didn't know if there was hope or not. Her time on the island had allowed her time to think and process, and dissect and reprocess, and sit with her feelings, thoughts and actions during, at least, the past six years of her life. And though it had not been nearly enough time to go through and deal with everything, it had started a ball rolling down a snowy mountain that was still gaining size and momentum and was becoming more unpredictable and more difficult to stop. Thankfully Fitz had taken her confusion for whole hearted sincerity and had placed Jake back in supermax. Seeing that he was now semi-safe again, she had been more able to focus on clearing his name, along with other things like Kathryn and whatever the hell she had been caught up in, she was still trying to figure that one out. Her renewed focus had allowed her to actually have a productive conversation with Anna about some of the things she needed her help with during which time Anna had rattled off a bunch of possibilities and suggestions, some of which involved a whole bunch of people possibly getting killed including them. Anna had actually had some useful and more desirable ideas which had ultimately led Olivia to coming up with the idea that had ultimately led to her currently standing in the bunker waiting for a newly freed Jake to join them.

She had been informed that they would be letting him go, and she had requested that they bring him down to the bunker so that she could have a chance to bring him up to speed on everything that had been going on. She was nervous, for so many reasons, and her daughter was clearly well aware of it as she seemed to be throwing a temper tantrum on her insides. Yeah, that was another thing that had happened during the last few weeks. She had gotten an ultrasound picture that was either three or four D, either way it was a lot different than previous ultrasound pictures as she could actually make out what it was the doctor had been trying to snap a photo of, her little girl. Her little girl was beautiful, and healthy from what the doctor had said. After fawning over the live motion picture of the tiny fetus flipping in her womb with Anna and allowing Anna to squeal over it and resisting the urge to squeal herself, she had reluctantly allowed the doctor to pull the ultrasound probe away, though she was tempted to ask for a portable machine to take home just so she could check up on her every now and then to make sure she was still okay. She was now twenty two weeks pregnant, and the small flutters she would feel, though stronger now were becoming less and less satisfying. Mostly she figured because she also wanted someone to feel her baby's movements. She had started feeling the baby move a few weeks ago, but when she had tried to get either Abby or Anna to feel it, they couldn't which was a little disappointing. She wanted to share this with someone, but at the same time she wanted to keep it to herself. After all, she was her mother. She had asked the doctor for a couple of printouts, one for her and one she would give Jake to put in his jail cell after breaking the news, to hopefully give him something to fight for if she couldn't clear his name as soon as she planned. Thankfully that hadn't been the case. Unfortunately, he still didn't know she was pregnant and she honestly didn't think that she was doing a very good job of hiding it right now, given she didn't try as hard this time when she left the house. No one besides Abby and Anna knew about it. She thought it best to keep the secret from anyone else or else she risk Jake being held captive even longer. She knew that he hadn't killed Harrison or Jerry so for whatever reason they had decided to detain and hold him in the first place had to have been personal. And though she wasn't a vain person, she would rather not risk his freedom any longer if she was by any chance a part of that reason. She knew the subject would come up sooner or later as she surely would not be able to hide the bump much longer. It was already a subject on people's minds since pictures of her started showing up on the front of papers and magazines, particularly one of her and Fitz when they were in the middle of one of their heated arguments about their somewhat personal lives. The article had mentioned how she looked particularly plump around the midsection and how she had a glow about her. She hadn't seen the glow, but she did see the plumpness, as did everyone else, including her employees, who luckily knew when to leave a personal subject alone. Of course she had lied and said that she and Fitz were just disagreeing on tactics, deflecting Quinn's questions about it, Huck never asked about it. Fitz had mentioned her weight gain once, she had lied and told him that she had actually been able to eat real food during her vacation since she wasn't always at a stress level of a thousand and that it was probably just a few left over pounds from her time away, which wasn't a complete lie. She had then declined to be intimate with him after that, which then made him apologize for the comment as he thought she was upset with him for criticizing the change in her body. But the truth was it would have been a little hard for her to explain why her stomach continued to grow while the rest of her just stayed the same for the most part, which she was very thankful for and prayed it wouldn't change later in the pregnancy which she doubted her luck was sufficient enough to pull that one off. They had only come close to being intimate once and that was when she had found out that she was pregnant and had gone into an emotional tail spin. The news had been the metaphorical straw that had broken the metaphorical camel's, which would be her, back. She had felt awful about herself after that, even more awful than she felt after actually being with him then walking out of the room with him to find Mellie on her way towards the same place she had just had sex with him. That was another reason she had decided not to have sex with him. Speaking of Mellie, she was sure even she was starting to suspect something as she had started giving her the stink eye again, which she had stopped doing for a while. She would also see how the woman would stun even if just for a split second upon seeing her, throwing a glance at her midsection before continuing in her continuous façade for the world to see.

She checked her watch again. What was taking them so long? Suddenly the door opened and she saw a few shadows in the hallway before he appeared in the doorway, escorted by a guard. He looked confused upon first entering the room, but then his eyes locked with hers and he stood up a little straighter. She felt her breath catch in her throat and she subconsciously folder her arms over her midsection, now out of habit more than anything. Time stopped for a few moments, she was sure, or at the very least slowed significantly. And she did that thing where you freak out so badly for a few short seconds that seem like minutes and your heart stops and all the voices around you start sounding like the teacher from Charlie Brown. Then you hear yourself let out a breath, and your heart kicks back with a really hard thud before kicking into overdrive. Then you realize you survived the initial moment but that it's only the beginning, but you feel a little bit better because your heart actually did start beating again and your lungs are still able to handle breathing. It was so weird, they had grown so close before all of this had happened, but now they just felt distant, but then again they didn't. She didn't know if he was the same person because she didn't know what had happened to him or what he thought of her, but whatever he thought, she hoped he knew that she had been fighting for him this entire time.

"Hi," she managed.

"Hi," he countered.

"Hi," she heard Fitz's voice from behind her.

Her eyes remained focused on Jake as his expression changed to one of contempt and his eyes drifted towards Fitz. She had felt the tension in the room grow tenfold and had taken the opportunity to step closer to Jake to try to diffuse the situation a little, which hadn't helped much. She had at least gotten him to sit down at the table so they could talk. They had informed him that he was now a free man, well technically since they still didn't want him leaving the bunker as not to tip her father off. The news that he was now free didn't really seem to faze him too much, and he still clearly held a little bit too much hostility to be an active contributor to the conversation she was trying to have. So she turned to Fitz.

"Can I have some time alone with him?" she asked, wanting Fitz to leave the room.

"I'm not leaving you alone with him," Fitz replied, looking straight at her.

"Why not?" Jake snapped back at him clearly becoming defensive.

She put a hand on Jake's shoulder to try to calm him, "Fitz please. You at least owe me that after everything you made me go through to prove to you that he was innocent."

Fitz's glare turned from Jake over to her as he looked her in the eyes contemplating her words. He got up almost silently with a huff, before exiting the room. Jake by this point was up again and pacing the room.

He looked down at the floor and she continued to stare, trying to read him, but she wasn't sure how well she was able to do that anymore. His eyes met hers and he began walking towards her. This prompted her to start taking in more sensory from the situation than just his eyes and facial expressions. He had lost weight, not as much weight as he had after being in the hole but still it was noticeable. What had they done to him? He had cuts on his face that were healing, some of them looked new from the last she had seen him, and bruises she could see on the top part of his chest where his shirt didn't quite cover. His right eye was still a little swollen, it looked painful, but she knew it had been worse. She wanted to cry, but she was panicking too much internally and had to fight to keep herself from vomiting. She looked up at him as he came to a stop right in front of her.

"Hi," he greeted again with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes the way it used to.

"Hi," she responded trying to sound normal, but she knew it didn't come off as well as she would have liked it to. They just stood there staring at each other and her eyes flickered down to the bruise that was staring her right in the face through the top of his shirt. She reacted by reaching out a tentative hand and allowing her finger tips to graze over the discolored flesh. He just continued to stare, the tears forming in her eyes not escaping him. He was about to make a joke to let her know that he was alright and to try to cheer her up but when he opened his mouth, he was only able to elicit a hiss of pain as her finger tips had pressed into the skin irritating what he was sure to be a broken rib that hadn't fully healed properly since he received little to no medical attention after the beatings he received. The pain was soon ignored as her next actions stunned him into silence.

At realizing that she had hurt him her hand quickly pulled away from his skin as if she had been burned. The bruise really was as bad as it looked, and she had not meant to hurt him. She didn't realize what she had done until she looked up to his face again and saw that his facial expression had changed from pain to confusion and panic. It took her another second to register, but when she did she quickly pulled her hand away from stroking her stomach letting it fall to her side, but it was too late. He had seen. There was one thing about an almost six month pregnant womb, if you were lucky you could find clothes big enough that might be able to hide it. She had opted to go with the layered look, a black maternal shirt which didn't do much to hide the bulge, but add to that the over sized cardigan; it wasn't as noticeable to anyone who wasn't really paying attention to her, or anyone who had several hundred other thoughts running through their head. But the slightest movement of that shirt from its naturally loose fitting style gave her abdomen the golden opportunity to stand out glaringly to even the most uninterested passers-by.

"Sorry" she spoke up, afraid of staying silent too long least the conversation drift to the subject she had just revealed but didn't think they were ready to broach just yet. "We have to shut down B6-13. We have to stop my father."

He turned away from her, his hand rising to pinch the bridge of his nose, clearly still disturbed by what he had just seen.

"Liv, I can't," he tried.

"You don't have to. We just need your help to…" she tried but was cut off.

"No Liv, not that," he said turning back to face her. "This entire thing. I know we have to get rid of your dad. I can do that, but I don't want to drag you through this with me and I don't need Fitz's help. This is just something I have to do on my own."

She stared at him mouth agape. "Are you crazy? There's no way you can take on my father on your own."

"Too bad, cause I am. Rowan isn't going to stop until he's dead, and I'm going to have to be the one to kill him."

Okay so now she was starting get angry, she had done all this to save his life and here he was planning to get himself killed again.

"Okay, first off no one's killing anyone," she told him.

"Oh, someone's killing someone," he replied.

She folded her arms and took a breath. "And how exactly do you plan on doing that Jake when you're stuck down here in a bunker."

"Well I'm a free man as far as I've been told," he told her. There was a few seconds of silence filled with an intense stare off. "Or is that the plan. To keep me locked down here while you run off with Fitz."

"What? No. Why would you think that, after all I've done to prove that you didn't kill Harrison or Jerry? To prove that you were innocent!"

He stared at her suddenly feeling guilty about his accusations that she would leave him down there to rot away, but he still could not shake the feelings evoked inside of him by what he had just seen.

"Look Liv, just let me out of here. It's clear your dad and I have unfinished business. Just let me finish it."

"You could be killed," she reminded him because clearly he had forgotten about that little nuisance of his plan.

He shrugged his shoulder, "It has to be settled one way or another."

Her brows furrowed at his words and he could see a mixture of hurt and shock on her face, as well as the tears starting to form. He turned away from her. This was just too much information to process after just being released from a federal prison for crimes he didn't commit.

She could not believe he was being such an idiot about this, and damn her sudden inability to not tear up or vomit at any extreme state of emotion or obscure smell. "Jake, I'm pregnant" she stated quietly, trying not to cry. He did not reply, nor did he turn around to look at her.

"Yeah, I noticed. Congratulations," he said, his voice void of emotions.

She just stared at the back of his head, seeing as how he had not turned to look at her, anger and confusion starting to take over her sadness. "Jake!" she yelled, since, maybe he hadn't heard her the first time. Still, he didn't look at her. "Look, at me!" Great, now she was crying. She had gotten used to the emotions coming with no warning, but now was not the time. She was angry, not sad. These hormones had her all screwed up.

His head slowly turned towards her and she didn't miss the flicker of his eyes down to her midsection, even if it was only for a half of a second. His brows were knitted together as if he was trying to keep a hold on his current facial expression, not knowing what emotion would don his face if he dared to move even a single facial muscle.

Clearly he hadn't gotten it, she thought. "I'm pregnant," she stated it more slowly this time accentuating each word since he had obviously suffered a brain injury that made him an idiot unable to process anything of good sense while being held captive.

He continued to look at her, his eyes squinting in confusion. She was obviously trying to say something that she wasn't saying, but…then suddenly it hit him and the look on his face turned to one of horror. This time when his eyes flickered down to her abdomen, they stayed there for a while and there was no doubt that he was checking out the bump she was sporting.

His eyes flickered back up to hers and she stared at him, awaiting his reaction.

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A/N: Hope you enjoyed the update. I tried to put more Olivia/Jake in this one and less Olivia/Anna, which will become more common now that he has been set free. Leave a review, let me know what you think!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Exhausted, will try to correct mistakes later if I remember. Wait, did I correct the mistakes from the last chapter...?

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She was pregnant, okay he got that. But it seemed that she was trying to tell him that the child she was pregnant with was his. That just couldn't be. Okay, maybe she was in on it. Maybe she had joined the dark side and was in on the plot to drive him completely insane. His eyes met hers again, and she stared at him in anticipation. He smiled. "No."

Her eyebrows drew together. "No, what?" she found herself unable to hide her annoyance. Was he seriously trying to tell her that she was not pregnant, with his kid, when she clearly had something growing inside of her abdomen?

"You can't be?"

She had to refrain from letting a string of not so nice words spew out of her mouth. She started digging through her bag. He could have sworn he heard her mumble a few words that included 'fine' and 'fucker', but he brushed it off when she pulled out what looked almost like a Polaroid, except thinner.

"What is this?" he asked taking it from her as she extended it towards him.

"Your daughter," she told him in a not so nice tone. He looked up at her, eyes wide, before looking back down at the blobs that were clearly the outline of a tiny human face as well as tiny little hands and little fingers.

"Liv," he said still a little in disbelief, "I can't… I've been in…"

"Well I'm not exactly in the beginning of this now am I?" she said resting her folded arms atop her abdomen allowing the shirt to shift in a way that it was no longer hiding the bump by any means. She looked back over at him as his eyes went back to the 3D sonogram still. She continued to stare at him as his face went through a variety of different contortions, and she cursed herself for beginning to feel sorry for him again. Clearly he wasn't trying to be an ass. He was just confused and probably scared since those were two of the feelings she vividly remembered having after she first found out the news. She continued to study his face as he struggled to make sense of what he was looking at.

He was seeing the picture but he wasn't able to process anything. His mind was be bombarded with a bunch of thoughts that made him barely able to process any external stimuli it was receiving right now. Okay, so Olivia, the woman he was in love with was telling him that she was going to have his baby. At the surface, that would be the best news any man could ask for, if that man wasn't currently in the middle of a top secret government conspiracy and constantly being hunted down like a dog by someone wanting to kill him. Oh, and also if that woman wasn't in love with another man. A man he definitely did not want his kid around but would probably have no other choice but to accept in his child's life if she ended up choosing him. If she did, he would have no other choice but to accept it if they were going to successfully co-parent. And yes, he wanted them together because he loved her, and he had always dreamed of raising his child in a happy, two parent household, but he had learned firsthand that a two parent household didn't always equal happy and happy definitely trumped the two parent part of that equation. And he definitely wanted this child to be happy, and no one would get in the way of that, not even himself. No he would not even let his disdain for the man who had just left the room come into the way of his child's happiness, but he would also not let that man himself do so either. A new set of thoughts and questions began to rapid fire in his mind and he felt his focus and priorities beginning to shift in that moment.

"Top left corner," she instructed in a more patient tone than she had been using with him. Her voice pulled him from the depths of his mind and he shifted his eyes to the top left corner of the photograph and started to read the writing there.

'_Pope, O._

_5/19/2015_

_19 weeks 4 days'_

He then looked back at the picture finally able to process the tiny facial features as he started to do the math in his head. They had left for the island in the middle of November, soon after the election was over. Fitz had won, his son had been murdered, she had believed her mother the cause, her business was crumbling, she was sad and hurting. He was fighting to be able to feel anything, especially anything from her. They had been gone about ten weeks. They had come back in the beginning of February. Nineteen weeks from May would mean the baby was conceived near the end of December or middle of January. And they were now in the beginning of July, that was about six months ago.

He looked back up at her with a crease in his forehead as his eyebrows remained knitted together.

She looked at him sadly. They had really made a mess of things. This was not the way that she had planned on welcoming her first child or any of her children into the world, and she had spent the first month she had found out she was pregnant being depressed by this very thought. But she had made peace with it, and she was not happy with the fact that she would make the best of the situation.

The thought hadn't crossed her mind on the island at it was too early. She hadn't had any symptoms, but when she began vomiting and feeling tired all the time, and having mood swings, she had taken a home test, and not believing it had made an emergent appointment with a gynecologist that had promised her a favor whenever she needed it in return for clearing up an issue that the woman's husband had gotten into. The pregnancy had been confirmed and she had, well she had gone back to her apartment and cried, but now she had to admit, even though the situation they were in was not optimal, it saddened her to think that it could be worse. The baby could have been Fitz's. Though she was pretty sure having a baby for an ex or possibly current government assassin came close to having a baby for a currently married man who just so happened to be the leader of the free world.

"How?" he asked, interrupting her sad thoughts.

"Really? That's the question you're going to go with?"

"I thought you had that little circle thing or pills or something," he sputtered. Although he wasn't completely opposed to the idea of becoming a father, though the timing nor situation was optimal, he still was confused as to how they both could have let this happen. They both knew they were not in any situation anyone would consider ideal for bringing a child into the world.

He was right. She had switched to that little circle thing he was talking about right before they left for the island but it had kept coming out and was a nuisance more than anything so she had decided to switch to the pills for the time being which was surprisingly a little hard to get on a practically deserted island especially since whoever was ordering their requests kept screwing it up, so not only was the contraception she had been using ineffective but she had gone a whole three weeks somewhere in the middle of their getaway without any form of contraception other than condoms which thankfully they had had but for some reason was rather hard for them to remember every time or even most of the time they had had sex while on the island, and there was a lot of sex being had between them seeing as they were both used to having something to do and something complex to think through every single minute of every single day prior to their arrival on the island and now all of that had been stripped away and they were left with nothing to really focus on but each other and what they would eat for the day.

She reminded him of all of this in a not so pleasant way as she was becoming angry again. He stared at her for a few more seconds before his focus returned to the picture in his hands, seemingly mesmerized by it. She knew that feeling. She had been consumed by the same photo for days after first receiving it.

Okay, that made sense. When putting it like that, they could have definitely conceived a baby while on the island. He stared at the picture a little longer. You could make out facial features but couldn't really tell who they belonged to, him or Olivia or if they were blended. He imagined a beautiful, bossy little girl running around the playground, standing up to all the bullies in defense of all the other kids, her curls bouncing behind her as she dragged her favorite doll along for the couldn't help the smile that came to his face. He also found great joy in the fact that he would have a part in raising that little girl and being there for her and letting her know that she was loved unconditionally. He was going to be a father. "My daughter huh?" he mused, still staring at the picture.

She continued to study his face and she saw the beginnings of a smile before both their heads snapped towards the door that had began to slide open.

"I don't care," she heard a familiar sing-song voice before she saw Anna walking through the door, followed by Fitz rolling his eyes at the back of her head before a secret service agent closed the door behind them.

Jake stood up, slipping the sonogram picture into his pocket, unsure what was about to happen since no one had invited Fitz back into the room and he had no idea who this woman was. He watched her demeanor as she sauntered into the room with a confident, sassy yet playful attitude. She eyed him curiously as a smirk came to her face. She walked up to him and stood right in front of him staring up at him. He studied her curiously. She was about Olivia's height so she didn't really seem threatening to the naked eye, but also like Olivia she gave of this sense that one should not take her as presented and that she could actually pose a valid threat if she wanted to.

"Hey Liv," she said tossing her bag on the floor next to the table, her eyes catching his. "Who's this guy?"

He heard Olivia let out a breath behind him before replying. "Anna this is Jake." He saw the woman's facial expression change to one of recognition on some level, though he was pretty sure he had never seen her before. "Jake this is Anna, my dear sweet cousin."

He could since the sarcasm in Olivia's voice, but Anna ignored it. "Ah, so this is Jake?" she asked rhetorically having never actually seen a picture of him. Well she had seen the clean shaved, shiny Navy picture and though the thought did cross her mind at first seeing him, but with the cuts and five o'clock shadow that adorned his face currently, she couldn't be sure since this was her first time seeing him in person. She gave him a once over, finally breaking eye contact with him. "I've heard a lot about you, Captain." She finished seductively as she placed a hand on his chest and began tracing slowly down his chest. Jake's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Before he could say anything, he heard Olivia's voice from behind him sounding tired and expectant but over the woman's antics. "Anna," she said with it sounding more like a sigh than a warning.

"Relax, Liv. I was just kidding," she said looking around Jake's broad frame to see Olivia. "I know he's yours."

He saw the grin now come to the woman's face after her last sentence and noticed Fitz beginning to fidget near the door before letting out a huff, and he couldn't help the smile that came to his face. She was clearly messing with all of them, him and Fitz being collateral damage on her path to screwing with Olivia.

Olivia looked from Anna, who was now smiling at her, towards Fitz since she could feel his eyes boring a hole through her after Anna's last comment. She adjusted the cardigan some so it could better hide her rounding abdomen and held eye contact with him for a few seconds before turning back to Jake and Anna. Thankfully he hadn't seen the telltale signs of her pregnancy.

"Now that everyone's here," she started her voice finally going back to its firm confident form since she had broken the news about the baby to Jake, "can we please discuss how we are going to deal with my father."

* * *

Okay, so maybe this hadn't been the best idea, Olivia thought they had now been in the bunker for an hour trying to come up with a plan and they still didn't have one that everyone was satisfied with. Jake and Fitz had done most of the talking, or arguing at least. Fitz had a plan of a strategic approach which Jake did not agree with because normal strategic approach was no match for B6-13 or command. But Jake wanted to be the one to lead the charge however it would be done which she did not agree with, and neither did Fitz, though she wasn't sure why. Anna, who was clearly as annoyed with both of them as she was had taken her ipod from her bag about fifteen minutes ago and stuffed the earplugs into her ears.

She rolled her eyes at all of them before Fitz said something that gave her an idea.

"What if I lure him out?" she stated more than asked. "Then that way we don't have to worry about sending the agents into B6-13 headquarters." She spoke to Jake more than anyone since he would be the one that needed convincing on this. It was basically Fitz's plan with a twist to settle out the part Jake seemed most concerned about. Anna had already checked out or so she thought.

He just looked at her with concern and pleading eyes. She could not possibly be thinking about putting herself and their unborn child in this type of danger. It was too dangerous, and he did not want her doing this, but he knew ultimately that he would be helpless to stop her if she made up her mind to do so. He opened his mouth to respond but before he could, he heard that same sing song voice from earlier.

"It won't work," Anna said, looking down at her phone. They all looked at her, waiting for her to continue or contribute something useful. When she didn't speak again, Olivia spoke up.

"I'm sorry Anna," she said clearly bothered by Anna going against her plan after being silent almost the entire time, "did you have something useful to finally contribute to this conversation."

He could see the other woman roll her eyes before looking up at Olivia. "This plan, it won't work," she told her simply. "One being that it's a dumb ass idea."

"Thank you," Jake mumbled.

"Yours wasn't much better," Anna shot at him. He didn't reply. He couldn't. She was right. He hadn't put much thought into his idea. He just wanted to get in there and settle this. He was currently blinded by anger and his mind was preoccupied with other things and a soon to be person.

"Well please, tell us your plan then," Olivia told her.

"My plan is to not to go with any of the plans that have been spoken aloud in this room," she replied without missing a beat, "which sadly, is the best idea that anyone has come up with all day."

Olivia just looked at Anna again before turning back to Jake and Fitz. "I'm going to call him, invite him to dinner," at this point Anna threw her hands up and sat back down in her chair.

"Liv she's right, this plan won't work," Jake interrupted her.

Before she could reply, she heard Fitz reply behind her, "Why not?"

Jake continued talking to her, ignoring Fitz. "It's not a good idea."

"I think it's a great idea," Fitz told him.

"That's because she's not pregnant with your kid!" Jake yelled at him, causing the entire room to go silent.

"Oh man," Anna said, taking the ear buds out of her ears and sitting up straighter in her chair, debating if to stay or if to leave. She sometimes enjoyed when other people's drama came to the forefront. For the most part it was entertaining, but sometimes it boarded on uncomfortable for everyone in the room, and this was one of those times. Her first instinct was to leave, but she honestly wanted to see Fitz's reaction. She still didn't think she was very fond of him and she knew that this news would be a blow to his ego, which she loved seeing people like him get knocked down to size a little. Though she knew he would have rationalized it in his head the next day and come up with some obscure reason as to why Liv's pregnancy was a mistake and she didn't really mean to betray him and that he was still supreme leader of everything. She had learned this trait about him during the last couple of months and from the stories everyone had told her. Including Mellie, who Olivia had thankfully not found out she had actually been having civil conversations with. Well at least one conversation when she hand stumbled upon the woman drinking wine on the balcony during one of her visits to the white house with Olivia. Honestly, those visits were boring and she often found herself wandering off to explore, which it was surprising the things you could get away with with that all access badge or whatever it was Olivia had gotten her to be able to walk around the white house with her. One day she just so happened to wander upon Mellie. And who could pass up a few glasses of wine with a view like that. She had actually had a conversation with Mellie, and surprisingly, she actually liked her. It may have been some sympathy for being stuck with being married to the president, but either way, Mellie was alright in her book. She at least had somewhat of a conscience, which is more than she could say for most of the people she had met since arriving to DC.

Her eyes darted from Fitz to Olivia and she saw the woman had stiffened; she was still facing Jake and had purposefully not turned around to look at Fitz.

"Olivia," his voice broke the silence. Anna's eyes stayed on Liv. Her head fell and she slowly turned to face him. "Is that true?"

Anna's eyes went to Fitz, and her brows furrowed in confusion. He looked so broken and so sad. Olivia didn't answer. She just stared at him with tears forming in her eyes. Now this pissed Anna off. He had no right to make Olivia feel sad or guilty for this. She had already struggled with this in the beginning and had finally come to terms with having a baby and was starting to actually enjoy the anticipation of becoming a mother for the first time. And here he was trying to make her feel bad about it.

"Yeah, it's true," Anna started in a somewhat hostile tone. "They fucked like rabbits while they were on the island and he knocked her up. So what? They're both adults."

"Anna," Olivia tried to scold but it came out sounding sad more than anything.

"Olivia," Anna replied, letting Olivia know that she was not in the mood for anyone's bullshit or pacification at the time.

"How could you?" he asked.

Olivia could see from her peripheral view when Jake turned away in frustration, trying his best to bite his tongue. Anna's mouth dropped open and she turned to Olivia, expectantly. She wanted her to say something, to defend herself, to lay into this asshole for trying to condemn the existence of her unborn child. But Olivia didn't utter a word. She just stood there with the same look on her face as Fitz. She could not believe that Olivia was allowing this to happen.

"Fuck this," she heard Anna's voice resound through the silence, as she got up and began gathering her things, stuffing them back into her bag. Olivia turned to her, not wanting her to go.

She swallowed, trying to find her voice before she spoke. "Where are you going?"

"I'm leaving," Anna declared as she walked to the door, not turning back to look at anyone else in the room. She didn't care that Olivia was sad right now, or that she probably didn't want her to leave. She should be sad for not standing up for herself or her little girl. She wanted to turn around and shake Olivia, she literally wanted to shake her to see if she could shake some sense back into her. Sure she could have given Fitz a piece of her mind, but then she wanted to give Olivia a piece of her mind too. And she had no problem with doing that, but she had learned a while ago that there was a time and a place for that, though this was the time and the place she felt, there was also a time and a place to walk away from things and the fact that she felt she was about to implode on herself definitely let her know that she needed a cool down period before letting anyone have it.

She began banging on the door. "Open the damn door!" she yelled and did not stop banging until it slid open. She walked out without another word. Olivia watched as the door slid close and she looked down at the floor. She could still feel Fitz staring at her awaiting an answer, so she decided to look behind her to Jake. He just shook his head in disappointment before turning away from her and walking to the chair in the corner of the room, refusing to look at her or Fitz.

She wanted to cry, but she didn't want to do it there, or in front of anyone. She grabbed her bag off of the table and walked hurriedly to the door before banging on it just as Anna had, both of them too impatient for whoever it was on the other side to hit the button on their own. The door slid open, and she walked out without another word.

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A/N: I'm tired. Where are all the crazies that used to leave reviews...I miss them :( They were crazy, but entertaining. Anyways, leave reviews, tell me what you think.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Here goes the next chapter. 42 more days.

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Jake walked into the room full of military advisers, scanning it quickly to make sure that there was not an immediate threat and also making sure that there were no B6-13 agents he recognized. He didn't recognize any, but that didn't mean that they weren't there. Anna had been right. This was an awful idea. Rowan had B6-13 agents embedded everywhere, and the more he thought about it the more he was convinced that some of them were among the people in the room, other than himself of course. This was why he had wanted it to be his guys. While being Rowan's right hand man and while being command, he had accumulated a group of, what Rowan would call, rogue agents. Agents that had been commandeered against their will as they all had, but who wanted out and saw no other way to do that than to take down command. He figured that these people were more loyal to him and each other than Rowan, though he wasn't naive enough to believe that one or all of them couldn't still be working for, infiltrating their group, under the influences of Olivia's father. He couldn't really focus on that now though as he realized that the screen they were watching showed the woman who he was in love with sitting with one of the most dangerous men on the planet, and she had dragged their unborn child along with her for the ride.

He noticed a figure out of his side view, across from him that seemed to stand out from the rest, in dress and in the fact that she couldn't seem to keep still. He turned his head to get a better look and as he did she just so happen to look up at him. They shared a concern look before both turned back to the television. It seems that Anna had decided to come back to see what she deemed 'the shit show' to actually go down. This was not going to go well, he knew it, he just hoped that whatever happened that Olivia would get out of in unharmed. He continued to watch as Olivia and Rowan continued to talk, it did not help that they did not really have any audio to go along with the video. He sat up a little straighter in his chair as he saw Rowan change seats to sit next to Olivia. Completely out of the safe zone for the snipers that were positioned outside of the restaurant.

So far her father had been going on another one of his long tirades. This time he was apologizing about being and awful father, and the little girl inside of her wanted to buy it, but the grown woman knew better.

"Why are you saying these things to me?" she asked him, not sure of the answer she would get, but she knew there had to be a reason.

He went on telling her how he basically lived for her and every single thing that he had done in the past, good and bad, was for her. That was when he got up, taking a seat closer to her.

"That's what you _were_ to me. Everything. And that is now over," she couldn't help the surge of emotions, panic and sadness that briefly washed over her, but fear soon over took that. The little girl inside of her having an internal struggle with her current self, her younger self trying to have an emotional break down over the prospect of losing another parent, but the grown woman fearing for her life as well as the unborn child's life inside of her. He then proceeded to tell her that he was leaving and not only tried to make her feel guilty about the men outside he had ordered to be killed, but also about wanting him to stop being a horrible person even if that meant holding him accountable for all of his crimes.

"You have forsaken me," he stated simply. "I am leaving Olivia," he informed her once again, "but if you for one second think that I am going to let you drag my granddaughter into this peasant life you have chosen for yourself than you are dead wrong."

Her mouth fell open and panic rose to a whole new level at the word granddaughter. She heard nothing he said after that as a pulsating sound, which she could only assume was her heartbeat, drowned out everything around her. How? She knew that there was a good chance that he knew about the pregnancy, but the fact that he even knew the gender of her baby let her know that he had infiltrated that part of her life more than she had expected. And that just made her feel even more afraid and powerless, helpless she believed was the word she was looking for. She had tried and failed terribly to protect and hide from him the one thing in the world that had come to mean the most to her over the past few months.

He stood up, and that made her tune back in to what he was saying. "You think your world is so terrible with me in it, wait until you see what it's like without me." He walked away, and she just sat there, doing and saying nothing. She didn't feel that it would matter anyway.

* * *

She held the hot mug of homemade tea in her hand, sipping from it occasionally and absentmindedly stroking her now freely protruding abdomen with her free hand. There was no use in hiding it now. Everyone knew about it. She continued to rerun the events from earlier through her head trying to either fight off or come to terms with the sense that she had already failed.

A firm knock on the door shook her from her unpleasant thoughts. She stood frozen for a minute, not really sure if she should or if she wanted to go to open the door. The knock came again and she figured she would at least look through the peephole first before making that decision. She didn't get that chance though as his voice sifted through from the other side of the door.

"Olivia, are you in there? Open up," he said knocking again. She continued towards the door, not really sure what it would bring but it would hopefully be a welcomed distraction or outlet.

She opened the door and stood there staring at him as he did the same. He was breathing a little hard and she had to wonder if he had run all the way from the pentagon to her apartment. Or at least up the stairs, being too impatient to wait for the elevator.

"Hi," she said with a somber smile.

"Hi," he replied still staring intently at her. He gave her a quick once over, not missing the her round midsection that he figured would never cease to amaze him. "You okay?"

The smile remained as she looked down at the floor before looking back at him. "I'm fine, Jake." She turned and walked away from the door leaving it open for him to enter behind her. The smile now gone from her face since he could no longer see her expression which had transformed into a panicked look as she tried with all of her might to keep from crying. Maybe opening the door hadn't been the best idea.

He locked the door behind him as he followed her into the kitchen. "I saw it," he started, "We saw everything, but there was nothing I could do to stop it." He watched as she kept her back turned to him, and after taking another long look at her, he could tell she was not fine.

"Liv, are you sure you're okay?" he asked her, not wanting to push her. He expected her to turn around and insist that she was fine, even though he knew she wasn't. He had prepared himself to stay close by for when her walls finally broke. He didn't however expect them to break this easily.

She turned around slowly, her eyes meeting him as the tears that she wasn't able to stop continued to flow freely down her face. He watched as she looked down at the floor, shaking her head.

"I was supposed to get him," she told him trying to keep from choking on her words. "I didn't want him dead. I just wanted him to stop hurting people. I wanted to not have to worry about him. Now I have keep looking over my shoulder, wondering when he's going to pop up again and what's going to be the reason. Is he going to come back and kill someone I love or if…," she stopped, as though just voicing her next thought somehow made her heart come to a sudden stop, but she managed to continue. "Or if he's going to have one of his people crawl through my window and snatch my baby out right out of her crib." The tears came harder and faster as she finished the last sentence. He made his way over to her in a few strides, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer to him. She returned the embrace and continued to cry freely into his chest.

"What did he say to you?" he asked her, but he received no answer. So he just continued to rub her back as he held her close. He tried a few more times to ask her what her father had told her, but again received no answer as she just continued to cry. During the silence, save for Olivia's soft sobs, he had time to think and process everything, including once again having the feel of Olivia in his arms and the unfamiliar feeling of their growing child between them.

He placed a kiss on the top of her head, before whispering soothingly, "That's not going to happen. We're not going to let that happen?" He continued to let her cry as he whispered reassuring sentiments into her ear.

Her tears had subsided but they were still holding on to each other when they heard someone at the front door. Jake's head snapped in the direction of the noise as he felt Olivia tense in his arm. She relaxed after hearing the jingling of keys followed by Anna's distraught voice.

"Olivia?" she called out to her, and she could hear the girl making her way towards the kitchen as she pulled away from Jake and tried to wipe the tears from her face. She had not done a good job when Anna rounded the corner. She stopped suddenly, taking a breath at seeing a physically unharmed Olivia. "Oh Liv, thank God." With that she walked over and wrapped her arms around the woman's shoulders pulling her into a hug, Olivia hugging her back. "What the hell were you thinking?" she said pulling away from Olivia enough to look her in the eyes before quickly pulling her back into another hug. "You scared the hell out of me."

"I'm okay," Olivia tried to reassure her as she felt the tears welling in her eyes again after seeing the few tears that had slid down Anna's face.

* * *

Jake sat down at the kitchen bar with the bowl of cereal and glass of orange juice he had made for himself. He was shocked but happy to see that Olivia now had a fully stocked kitchen. She was still asleep and he had heard Anna leave earlier this morning so for now he had the place for himself. He grabbed the paper and began flipping through it, but that didn't keep his focus long as he remembered the photo that he had not let leave his person, other than to take a shower, since he got his hands on it. He reached into the pocket of his sweat pants and pulled it out. He couldn't help the smile that came to his face every time he looked at it, but he was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening and Anna's keys being tossed on the table next to the door.

He put the picture back into his pocket as he heard her coming towards the kitchen. She let out a huge sigh as she rounded the corner to the kitchen, but didn't say anything, so he remained quiet too. He figured she had been running given the attire she was wearing and she still seemed to be breathing a little hard. He still wasn't sure what to make of this woman, other than that she and Olivia meant a lot to each other, so he would just feel her out a little more. She went over to the fridge and grabbed the orange juice before she reached up into the cupboard to find a glass.

"Glad you're out jailbird," she said suddenly, "now you can help us move all this crap over to the new apartment."

He looked up at her and contemplated her words, mostly the jailbird part since she really didn't know him from Adam. "Whose apartment?" he decided to reply.

"Liv, she's moving," she said pouring the juice into her glass. "A three bedroom apartment a couple of blocks over. And she's making us help." She added looking at him and shaking her head. "But now that you're here, you can do all the heavy lifting."

He gave her a forced smile, still trying to figure her out. "You know, Olivia never told me she had other family."

"We like to keep that between us, plus I'm a drifter. Trying to stay away from the crazies," she told him, .

"And how's that going for you?" he questioned.

"Apparently not as well as I thought," she replied as she turned to place the glass in the sink. "But you know," she said her voice changing to a theatrical tone as she leaned back on the sink and flipped her hair. "What can you do? I can't help it if I'm always in such high demand."

He smiled at her, genuinely this time. It was clear that she was being sarcastically dramatic. She smiled herself before she turned to make herself some coffee. She reminded him of a hippie Olivia, which in itself was an oxymoron, because even hippy Olivia wouldn't be considered an actual hippie. She just seemed more laid back and carefree than Olivia, everything about her. The way she dressed seemed more like the way Olivia would dress if she wasn't constantly working and lead more of a normal carefree life that consisted of more casual brunches with people who were actually her friends and nights out on the town. Her hair seemed as if she hadn't straightened it in a few days causing it to look slightly wavy and more untidy than Olivia would ever allow in public. But it worked for her and it made her intriguing in a different way than Olivia.

"Hey, can you teach me to kill people?" she said suddenly turning back around to face him. He was speechless as his mouth fell open. "I mean not really kill people, anyone can do that but you know ninja kill them. The whole make them disappear and get away with it part."

"Umm, sure," he said going along with it since he was actually becoming amused by it. He knew that if Olivia had heard the last part of their conversation he would be in big trouble, even if he was just joking around.

"Great," she said before turning back to the counter, but then she turned around again quickly, causing her ponytail to whip around too. "Oh, but it can't be this weekend, or Thursdays I have to meet with my choreographer. That's going to be my cover. You know no one ever expects the beautiful ballerina to be the ninja assassin, so don't think I'm not committed. I just have to keep up the appearances, know what I mean?"

"Yeah, no, I totally get it," he replied without missing a beat. He watched as the woman gave him a thoughtful look before smiling widely at him. She turned back to finish making her coffee. "You know, I like you Jake Ballard of B6-13."

"Former, B6-13," he told her stressing the former.

"Yeah, yeah," she said before whipping back around again, "Oh, maybe we can start our own agency. We already got like four people."

"What would we call ourselves?" he asked, as he took a sip of his juice as he continued the entertaining conversation.

"Hmm," she paused, before putting a finger up, "let me get back to you on that." She turned back to the counter and he snorted when he heard her whisper, clearly actively contemplating a name for their soon to be agency, "This has to be good."

"Morning," Olivia said walking into the kitchen going straight for the fridge, but Anna interrupted her before she could get there.

"Guess what Liv?" she asked not giving her a chance to reply, "Jake's going to teach me to kill people."

This caused Jake to almost choke on his juice and Olivia whipped her head around towards him, a horrified look on her face.

"I'm not," he spat out in his defense not wanting to get the tongue lashing he was surely about to receive nor did he want to upset her. "We were only joking around."

Olivia studied him for a while before turning back to Anna, seeing the amused smirk on the woman's face. She would let it go for now, but she would surely have to have a talk with both of them later.

"Oh by the way, good job last night Jake," Anna told him as she poured some coffee into the mug she had taken out. He squinted his eyes at her, waiting for her to continue. "I haven't heard Liv scream or moan that loud since I spent that week with her during my freshman year of college." Olivia sat the kettle down loudly almost dropping it as she started blushing. Jake's eyes widened in disbelief at the woman's boldness. Anna remained quiet as she exited the kitchen with her coffee, a satisfied smile on her face, Olivia glaring at her until she disappeared around the corner.

Jake continued to look at the door through which she had exited, studying her latest actions. "Well she's entertaining," he finally spoke.

"More like exhausting," Olivia corrected. She loved Anna, but the woman was too often in her "on" state for her liking.

"Yeah, I can see that," he said finally turning back to Olivia, as she put the finishing ingredients in her mug of tea. "So how are you feeling this morning?"

She picked up her mug before turning to look at him. She studied him for a little while, trying to find his angle. Yes he had come over last night, they had talked some, she had cried some, he had slept in her bed, and yes they had had sex. And although she had to reassure him multiple times that it was okay to have sex with her being pregnant they still had not talked about the implications that the result of the pregnancy would bring about. They would no longer be Olivia and Jake, business woman and special agent, republic or socialite conspirator and skilled assassin. They would be parents, Mommy and Daddy as soon as the baby growing inside of her learned to enunciate the syllables or even sooner depending on how you looked at it. They continued to stare at each other, each waiting for the other to bring up the elephant in the room. Jake, usually being the one to do that, made the first attempt, though for whatever reason he went with a more subtle approach this time.

"So, what'd I miss?" he asked after eyeing her stomach.

She gave him a sincere smile before replying, "Not much." She brought the mug up to her mouth, beginning to sip from it.

He continued to stare at her. She looked absolutely radiant. Not that she wasn't beautiful before but the fact that she was visibly pregnant with his child sparked something even deeper inside of him. And she seemed to glow, he could tell that she was genuinely happy about this baby, and that made him even happier and drawn to her. He had heard a few guys describe this phenomenon back when he was in the navy about witnessing your child growing inside of the woman you were love with but he had never thought that he would have that experience after being recruited to B6-13, but here he was.

She began rubbing her stomach and looked down at the floor, becoming a little self-conscious under his gaze. Not that it was him that was making her uncomfortable, so much as it was her own thoughts. It was one of those things where someone makes it seem like you are the most amazing thing in the world to them, and the only thing that you can think of at the time is your short comings and you can't really see past them to see how someone could love you so much.

She hadn't realized that he had made his way over to her until his hand made contact with her stomach. He hadn't had a chance since being released to just fawn over it. And seeing her standing there freely caressing it made him more anxious to do so. Sure he had read about the unwanted pregnant stomach touching people, but he was pretty sure that didn't refer to the father of the child growing there and whom the mother still freely allowed into her home. And if it did, he was sure she would let him know.

She jumped a little as his hand made initial contact with her stomach. He looked into her face to gauge her reaction but only received a smile when she looked up at him. He smiled back at her and placed her hand on top of his before taking his other hand and placing it on the other side of her abdomen, keeping both her hands on top of his.

This was what she had wanted. She finally felt somewhat of a sense of calmness, like she wasn't alone in this. She hadn't really felt completely alone having Anna and Abby, and she was sure whatever Quinn and Huck could offer as soon as they were officially informed, but she had always known that Jake always had something special to offer her in every type of situation, and she was sure that would be even more true in this situation as she felt he was the only person that was as deeply tied to this baby as she was.

Suddenly she felt a swift hit, likely a kick to the left side of her stomach, right under the area where their hands rested. It caused her to flinch a little as she had never felt one so strong before. She looked up to Jake to explain her jumpiness as it seemed no one but her would ever be able to experience this tiny little being moving around inside of her except for her, but she was met with a curious, unsure look from him. Her brow furrowed, also in curiosity. Had he felt it? They stared at each other for a little while.

Here question was soon answered as he spoke.

"Was that her?" he asked, with a smile starting to pull at the corner of his lip.

She nodded slowly, as she replied still in disbelief that someone other than her was able to experience this. "Yeah. You felt that?"

He nodded. "Yeah," he smiled.

"Really?" she asked, trying to make sure he was sure.

"Yeah Liv, I," he stopped as he felt it again, "she just did it again."

She smiled at him before reaching up and wrapping her hands around his neck, pulling him down into a kiss, his hands staying on one her stomach. The kiss lasted a few short seconds before they were interrupted.

"Aww com'on you guys, I'm still here," Anna said as she walked to the sink to wash out the coffee mug.

Olivia pulled away from Jake, still smiling as she walked over to Anna. "Feel this," she said grabbing the woman's hand and placing it where Jake's had been a few moments ago.

* * *

A/N: Hey, still feeling this story out and trying to set a pace fore it. Anyways, hope you enjoyed.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Hey guys. Sooo, this chapter is a little longer but mostly transitional with some frustrating parts. And I assure you the end game is still Olake. It's just that I had to take the Shonda route with the giving and taking of wonderful Olake moments, but we'll get through them...in this story at least. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

"Well I'm just saying, Liv. You're going to need it either way. I mean you have a big head, and Jake's isn't necessarily small," Anna stated.

"You know, you're right," Olivia started sarcastically as she dipped a piece of the pita bread into the spicy humus they were having. "This prenatal yoga class is just going to make it so much easier for my hips to slip out of place in order to pass a tiny human through it. I just don't know why it's not mandatory. Every woman should be required to do this at least once weakly to lessen the pains of child birth."

Quinn and Abby glanced at each other and smiled. They were having lunch at on one of the outside patios of one of their favorite Greek restaurants. They had just come from a prenatal yoga class, which thankfully the instructor had allowed Olivia more than one non pregnant guest to take the class with her. At first it was just her, Anna, and Abby taking the class. But then Quinn found out about it and voiced how she didn't appreciate being the last to find out about the pregnancy and not being invited to attend the yoga class. This was followed by an invitation from Olivia to come to class with them, which was followed by Anna's statement that she thought that murder was the way she balanced her Qi, not yoga. She had then asked Huck if he would like to join them, to which he politely declined.

Anna gave Olivia a look. "Don't be sarcastic, Olivia. I'm just trying to help you out. Rather you like it or not. Shit is going to get real in the next two and half months when you are trying to pass the baby equivalent of your head through your pelvic ring."

Abby couldn't help the snicker that escaped her. "I'm sorry," she stated, still laughing. "But she does have a point, and the look on your face when she said that," Abby continued to laugh as Quinn let out a short laugh before beginning to sip from her mimosa.

Olivia took a look around the table. They were all tipsy. "Okay, that's it. No more drinks other than coffee or water for any of you. You guys have to help me unpack later."

"Yeah, when are those moving people going to be there anyways?" Anna asked, taking another sip from her mimosa.

"They should be there now," she stated, drinking from her lemon flavored water. "I just need you guys for the unpacking part of it."

She had strategically gone to the yoga class with them and left Jake and Huck at the apartment to deal with the movers. She had left Jake with a specific set of instructions on what to take and what to leave behind as some of the stuff would be staying behind. Anna was going to rent her old apartment out, which was the reason why the landlord had let her change the lease so easily. The building she was moving into was similar to her old apartment as it was owned by the same people. It was just a larger apartment a few blocks over. Anna not wanting to hear anymore of Olivia's sexual escapades, and Olivia not really ecstatic about baring auditory witness to hers, had decided to get her own apartment. At this declaration, Olivia had asked just how long Anna planned on staying in DC. Anna replied that she had grown comfortable there and didn't really see a reason to leave at the time as she had steady work and was closer to New York, which had always been Anna's dream location, not LA. LA represented more fame and television where New York was more theater, music, and dance, which was more of Anna's place in life. She was happy that Anna was there for the foreseeable future.

"You guys figure out what you're going to do yet?" Quinn asked. "I means as far as living arrangements and everything."

Abby turned to Olivia at this question. Olivia had convinced her to take her job back as press secretary at the white house as well as convinced Fitz and Cyrus that she should have the position. Point blank, Abby at the podium meant Olivia's presence in the white house even if not directly. The main reason why Olivia had wanted this was because a lot of the cases she got from the clients required at least some knowledge of what was going on in the white house. This was how she had convinced Abby to take the job back. Her role was vital in keeping OPA as successful as it had always been. To which Abby had replied that it would be fun to actually spy on the white house, as long as she didn't have to go full B6-13 and kill someone, save for Charles. She would gladly put an end to that bastard.

After they had eaten, Olivia announced that she had to run to oversee the moving process. Anna stated she was due at the studio and Olivia had taken the chance to remind them that they had all agreed to show up at her apartment in about three hours to help her unpack and reorganize, through which they had all confirmed. She didn't blame them for not wanting to be there for the moving part. Moving was stressful, especially when you were the one that was moving. Which was the reason she had decided to leave Jake in charge after she had had a scare the week prior with cramping. Her doctor had reinforced the avoidance of stress and had threatened her with bed rest if she continued to have cramps. Not really sure if less stress would do anything for her or her cramping uterus but not wanting to have to spend another night or more in the hospital, she had tried to avoid work even more than she already had been, leaving her employees to deal with the major issues and trying not to insert herself as much into the investigations, and surprisingly she had felt a lot better and hadn't had anymore cramps. She had offered Jake to oversee the moving given these findings to which he had gladly accepted, but being the person that she was, she had to at least oversee the final move.

* * *

"Oh good," Olivia stated as they pulled up behind the moving truck. "The furniture for the nursery is here?"

"What?" Jake asked as his head snapped towards her. "You mean there's even more stuff."

She looked at him for a second before replying, "Yeah. It didn't make any sense to have them deliver it to the old apartment just to move it here." With that she got out of the car and began giving orders to all of the movers.

Jake looked at the chaos going on in front of him. It had taken them a few hours to move the stuff from the old apartment between him, Huck, and the two movers. Now there was another almost full sized moving truck waiting to unload at the new place and he had to wonder how much furniture and whatever else was packed on that truck could a newborn need to carry it through infancy.

"At lease we have two more people to help us move everything," Huck said quietly from the back seat before exiting the car.

Jake sighed before doing the same. It didn't make any sense to put off the work in front of them. He was sure that he could talk the nursery deliverers into helping them to unload the other truck after they had unloaded theirs.

She had opted to go inside to make sure that every box was going in the right room or at least near it. They didn't finish until later that evening, and now the sun was starting to set. Thankfully they had been very efficient movers with two extra helpers she didn't need to pay. The first thing she had done after the last boxed had been placed inside of the apartment was get Jake and Huck to start assembling the nursery furniture, while she, Anna, Abby and Quinn, unpacked the most of the kitchen. Jake and Huck had then moved to her bedroom to reassemble her bedroom furniture while they had moved to hang pictures in the nursery and unpack some decorative ornaments and a few baby clothes she had bought. She had gotten some professional painters to paint the nursery and a few other places in the apartment the week before, and she had tried to put off buying anything until she moved making it less work but she had been unable to help herself. Now she could buy freely since the move was over. In some ways she hated moving because it was stressful, and she had to leave her place of familiarity. But at the same time moving for her in the past usually meant getting away from something hurtful, which had been one of the ways she had dealt with her emotions.

She sat in the rocking chair next to the nursery window, sipping on her cup of tea, and admiring her layout design for the nursery. The wall across from her that held the entrance to the nursery was a warm beige color while the other four walls were painted what she could only describe as a mixture of a neutral pink color and a sparkling like violet mixed together strategically on a deep mauve background. It was a very mature color scheme she thought for a nursery and came out a little dark but artsy, but Anna liked the color scheme and had convinced her that they could make it work, especially after finding this apartment had had built in wall shelves covering almost half of one of the walls. They had had the embedded shelving case painted the same warm beige as the other wall, and that along with the windows and small chandelier they had replaced the central light fixture with had served to brighten the room. The floors were a dark wood but they had placed a large beige carpet in the middle of the room that had various shades of bright pink and pastel purple circular flour designs in it. The other sky lights also served to brighten up the room as they reflected off of the beige furniture with a reflective finishing giving the furniture and almost satin look. The lilac theater styled curtains also served to help brighten the room and were swooped dramatically to the side of the each window to allow some light in and and to the allure of the room. She had also bought a lot of bright ornaments and accessories helping to brighten up the room and make it seem more fit for an infant as well as add to the elegance of the room. Overall, it looked like a uniquely designed baby nursery fit for a princess.

She rested the mug and her hands on her stomach as she began admiring the different works of art she had chosen for the room. She had never realized that child art was such a creative thing that real artists actually worked on until she started looking.

Then her phone rang. She could hear it from her bag which she had placed on one of the shelves. She stared at it, trying to decide if she should answer it given she didn't want to leave the peaceful place she was in at the time. She guessed she'd deliberated too long when the ringing stop, but it only started back up a few seconds later. She huffed to herself before deciding to get up and answer it. She searched through her bag, moving her first phone aside, knowing that it was not the source of the ringing and vibration. She grabbed the phone that he usually called on and hit answer. She didn't say anything.

He waited a moment before talking. "How are you?"

She tried to stop the tears from coming to her eyes at the sound of his voice. He sounded so broken, and it hurt her knowing that she was the one doing this to him. But this also made her upset with him though she wasn't sure why, though she had a strong suspicion that it was because any interaction with him tore down the fantasy walls of the somewhat normal life as a somewhat normal expectant mother she had been enjoying. And she was so angry with him for that. He couldn't give her the life that she wanted and here she was trying to decide if she should continue to wait for him all at the expense of her happiness.

"Olivia," he tried, but she cut him off.

"I'm fine," she said a little more harshly than she had intended to. She felt him pause on the other side of the phone. "I'm fine, Fitz," she managed to get out a little more softly this time.

He paused again. "I've missed you."

She felt the tears welling up again. "Fitz, I…" she tried but she couldn't find the words. What would she say to him? I'm pregnant with someone else's kid, which he already knew. But I still want to be with you because I love you, but I also think that I'm in love with Jake, but I might still want to wait for you to find a good time to divorce your wife. Yeah, because that created the ideal situation where she and Fitz where married while she continued to try to successfully co-parent with Jake, who hated Fitz right now and she didn't really see him getting over it enough in the next eighteen years to sit next to him at a high school graduation or even in the next twenty-five or so years to have him sitting on the front row as he walked their daughter down the aisle. "I have to go," she heard herself say without really thinking about it. She figured it was her brain's way of protecting her from continuing to think these thoughts as she felt herself getting stressed out.

"I still want you to come away with me, Liv," he ignored her.

"Fitz," she tried redirecting the conversation once again, but he continued.

"I don't care about Jake," he told her. "I know you had something with him, and …we'll get over that."

Her brows furrowed, and she couldn't decide if she was angry from the fact that he thought her baby was something that they needed to get over or saddened by the fact that he again sounded so broken.

"My baby is not something I'm going to get over Fitz," she told him calmly as she wiped away some fallen tears. "She is not some betrayal of your trust or some mistake that I got stuck with. She is a result of a choice that I made. I chose to have her because I wanted her. I chose her."

"I didn't mean it like that, Olivia. I just meant that I'm willing to make whatever adjustments I need to make to have the both of you."

Okay, so now she was really going to start crying. She took a shuttered breath and fought back more tears. "Fitz," she started trying to hold her voice steady, "I have to go."

"I'm never going to sell the house in Vermont, Liv." He stated matter of factly.

She smiled to herself through her tears. "Don't sell the house in Vermont."

With that she hung up. She wiped away a few more tears, but more slowly crept their way down her face as she smiled warmly at the phone. This was the reason why she couldn't let go of him. Every time she tried, he did something like this to remind her how much she loved him and wanted to be with him. That was short lived though.

"Hey," she heard a voice coming from the door way. She turned to see Jake looking at her less than impressed and somewhat hurt. She knew immediately with not doubt that he had heard at least some part of the conversation and knew that she had been talking to Fitz.

But in typical Jake fashion, he didn't say anything about it, but still managed to make her rethink everything that had happened in the past few minutes. "Food's here," he told her before disappearing from the doorway.

She took a few minutes to gather herself and let her emotions stabilize before going into the living room to join everyone else for pizza and Chinese since they couldn't decide on one thing between all of them. Jake was quieter than he had been earlier, and she made a mental note to probe him about what he had heard earlier. Unfortunately she wouldn't get that chance though as he was the first to excuse himself saying that he had something to go check on. She had figured that she would get a chance to talk to him later that night, but she ended up falling asleep before he returned.

* * *

He hadn't planned on staying out so long. He had honestly just wanted to get out and have a few beers alone and clear his head. The thing that had been hard to get out of his head though was Olivia's last few words from that conversation. 'Don't sell the house in Vermont.'Her voice kept replaying that phrase through his mind. He hadn't meant to spy and the only thing had had hears was when she said his name and told him not to sell the house. He was hurt and upset, but he had no one to be angry with but himself. He had known, as he had told her when he had been locked inside the pentagon, that she wouldn't choose him. But he had gotten so caught up in the whole becoming a father thing and combine that with the fact that he was in love with her, well he had allowed himself to start to think that she was beginning to choose him. How wrong was he?

'Don't sell the house in Vermont.' It echoed through his head again, just as his thoughts were starting to wander somewhere else. What was she planning to do? Take his daughter and run of with her to Fitz's mansion in Vermont. The sad part about that was that if she decided to, he knew that he couldn't really stop her and that he would be forced to co-parent from afar while a man he had come to hate got to actually in-house raise his little girl with her mother who, if he hadn't mentioned it before, was in love with. 'Yeah, that'll be fun,' he thought as he downed the rest of the beer in one gulp before tapping it on the bar signaling to the bartender he was ready for his next.

He hadn't meant to stay out so late or have so many beers, but it had taken a lot of them to get Olivia's voice reciting those words out of his head. Thankfully, he had still managed to slightly stumble his way back to her place a few blocks away. And tired and exhausted after moving boxes and setting up furniture all day, as well as not trusting his slightly tipsy self to not wake her, he had crashed on the couch, which had seemed to be a good idea until he was woken up a few hours later by a firm blow to his chest.

His eyes popped open and both his hands immediately went to protect the area that had just been assaulted. It took a few seconds for her blurry form to come into focus, and he just looked at her confused. She was either angry or sad, quite possibly both.

"What?" he grumbled, which earned him a firm blow to the stomach since he was covering his chest.

"Where were you last night?" she asked him.

"At the bar," he said, still confused as to why she was upset.

Thankfully he was a little more awake and his hands had drifted down to his stomach, which was closer to his groin, causing him to be able to effectively block her next hit which was aimed directly at that area.

"You couldn't answer my calls because you were at a bar?" she half yelled a him.

He hadn't remembered her calling him. He thought about it and began digging around in his pockets until he found his phone. When he did he pulled it out, looked at it, then held it up for her to see. "It's dead." He really needed to get a new battery. She had told him to get a new phone all together, an upgrade one, but those were harder to take off of the grid. Not that he couldn't, he just didn't feel the need to go through all of the work when he had a perfectly good off grid phone, minus the battery of course.

Even more confusing to him now, tears started to form in her eyes as she walked away. This caused him to get up from the couch and follow her into the kitchen.

"Sorry about that Liv," he stated. "I think I need to get a new battery. It was fully charged when I left."

She ignored him and continued about the kitchen and the rest of apartment completing her morning routines more aggressively than normal. He watched her looking for an in to either apologize again or delve further into the conversation, and deciding if he should even take it. Maybe it would just be better to shut the hell up and let her passive aggressively hash this thing out. It was funny, he had initially thought Olivia not one to do passive aggression well, but that was before he had seen her get angry at him. She didn't do it to anyone else, everyone else got the up front "I'm pissed at you because of whatever reason", or the "Do this or I'll destroy you." But nope, not him. He got the "Figure out why you're and idiot who's face I want to punch."

He took a full assessment. She seemed physically fine. He figured he'd try his luck. "Did something happen last night?" he tried as she went around the bedroom, going through some of the clothes she had unpacked.

"You would know that if you had answered your phone," she told him without looking at him.

He opened his mouth to speak, but paused before continuing. "Yeah," he agreed, before reminding her, "but we've already established that my phone was dead, Liv. What do you want me to do?"

"Do you have any idea, how worried I was?" she yelled, finally stopping to look at him.

Okay, so now he felt like a jerk and he was kicking himself for it. "Liv, I was just down the street."

He tried, knowing that now it wasn't a good excuse anymore, and still trying to quell the fear he knew she had felt.

"Every time you disappear," she continued to yell at him, "every time you don't answer your phone, it's because something bad has happened to you. Someone has taken you and put you in a hole or in a jail cell to torture you to death!" She was upset, because this was literally the only times she would ever have trouble getting in contact with him. He would always answer even if it was just to say he couldn't talk at the time and if he didn't answer he would text her letting her know the same. "And you think that saying you're sorry is okay after you decided not to answer you damn phone."

Okay, clearly she didn't care about the phone and it's lack of a working battery at this time or she had just gone deaf. "Look, I just needed to get out and clear my head," he tried to explain without apologizing since that only seemed to be pissing her off even more. "I heard you on the phone with Fitz and," he was cut off.

"Is that what this is about?" she asked. "Fitz?"

"What?" he asked growing confused again. "No. It's about the phone. Isn't it?... Wait, why exactly are you mad again?" It was one thing to argue with Olivia when she was trying to pull one over on him, he would usually just call her out on her bullshit, but it was a completely different story trying to argue with her when she actually had a leg to stand on. He understood, she had every right to be upset with him, she really did, but she also needed to be rational about it and understand that he had not done it on purpose.

"You getting pissy about me talking on the phone with someone does not justify you running out in the middle of the night and not answering your phone," she told him.

"Okay, I'm not even going to address the phone thing again," he told her, "and you weren't just talking on the phone Liv you were making plans to run away to Vermont with the guy."

"I was not making plans to run away with him," she stated, feeling like she was on the defense for the first time since the argument started. Though she didn't care that he had a point. She did too.

"Really because that's what it sounded like. Tell me, what's the plan for that? How exactly is that going to work? Because Fitz doesn't even want his own kids around I'm pretty sure he doesn't want anyone having to do with me running around messing up his domestic fantasy."

"Yeah, well you're wrong," she stated before she could stop the words. The anger and defiance immediately fell from her face replaced by regret and uncertainty.

Okay, so all those crazy thoughts running through his mind had a valid base. He stood there staring at her a little longer. He wanted to say something, something to convince her to change her mind. But he knew that would only make things worse. If he continued to pursue this, things would only get messier and he did not want that. It was already messy enough, and becoming more screwed up by the second. They needed to step away from each other, least they run the risk of screwing themselves up more and their kid's life up before it even got started.

She didn't even realize that she was holding her breath as she stood waiting for him to say something. But he didn't. He just turned and walked away as confusion overcame her.

"Jake," she called after him as she followed him into the front of the apartment. He didn't answer as she entered into the living area to see him gathering his things. "Where are you going?"

She asked him. His only reply was, "We need some space, apart." That was not a satisfactory answer. He made a B line for door after placing his shoes on, his jacket in his hand.

"Where are you going?" she asked him. She had crossed the line. She knew that. And know she was scrambling because she didn't want to be the one that was in the wrong last when this argument ended, especially seeing as how it had just gone so badly, so quickly. She hadn't meant to accidentally threaten to insinuate that she was taking their baby and hauling it to Vermont the first chance she got therefore indicating that she wanted to raise this baby with Fitz and not him.

He took a deep breath and let it out. He needed to leave. The more words that were said the worst things were becoming. But not wanting to leave her again without letting her know that he was okay and where she could find him, he answered. "I'm going to get another room, at the hotel," he told her. "I'm gonna go talk to my old land lord, see if he has any apartments for lease."

He side stepped her but she wasn't going to let him go so easily.

"You can't," she informed him. He couldn't leave. How the hell was he going to just leave her when she was about to give birth in less than ten weeks? "You can't just leave."

"Liv, if you need me you can just call me at," she cut him off.

"Yeah, because you always answer your phone," she said sarcastically.

He looked in her face and saw the hurt and panic. Okay, this was what he was trying to avoid but it looked to be too late. No matter what he did, this was going to get even messier. If he left, than Olivia would never trust him again. He would become just another one of those people who hurt and abandoned her when she needed him, and that would definitely affect their relationship going forward. Not to mention he didn't think he would be able to live with himself if he walked out on her while she was clearly asking him to stay in her own way. But if he stayed, well then that would just serve to make it messier in the long run as she was sure to continue doing things to hurt him and she had made it clear that she had no intentions of giving up Fitz any time soon. And staying would just make it harder for him to accept the fact that she had chosen Fitz over him when that time came. "What do you want me to do Liv?" he asked her sounding dejected.

Again, the anger drained from her at the sound of his voice. He just sounded so defeated, and she knew she was hurting him. He was trying to leave because he was trying to protect himself. He should protect himself from her. She was screwed up and only capable of inflicting pain on the people she cared about, just like Abby had said. She was poison.

She hadn't even realized that she was crying until he raised his hand to her face, the pad of his thumb gently wiping away a few of the fallen tears. And he decided, it would be better for him to just take the brunt of the pain in the long run rather than cause her any unnecessary pain, "I'll stay," he said in a defeated tone. He stared at her a little while longer before side stepping her and walking back into the apartment.

She turned around and watched as he disappeared into her kitchen. She had gotten what she wanted, so why was she becoming even more upset. Honestly, the more rational part of her mind tried to stop her, but that part of her mind had been having trouble making contact with the rest of her brain lately, particularly the parts that controlled her body and the words that came out of her mouth. The rest of her brain, the irrational part mostly was telling her that the tone he had used to let her know he would stay indicated he was only doing it because he either felt sorry for her or guilty about leaving or both. She stalked after him, following him into the kitchen.

"What the hell was that?" she yelled at him.

He turned around, eyes wide as if he was witnessing some type of demonic possession. He didn't say anything, he couldn't, and he was at a loss for words. He was trying to keep her calm. She had asked him to do something he didn't necessarily agree with and got upset when he voiced his disagreement, so he had agreed to do what she wanted him to do, but somehow that still made her upset.

"What was what?" he managed to get out.

"You agreeing to stay here," she told him.

"You asked me to stay, so I'm staying," he told her. "Why are you upset?"

"Because," she started, "I don't want to make you stay here Jake. I want you to be here because you want to be here, not because you feel obligated to."

"I'm not doing it because I feel obligated to Liv," he told her, maintaining a calm demeanor. He was seriously trying his hardest to not get into an argument with her, but he knew Olivia. This one sided argument was not going to end until she got some answers she deemed satisfactory. So he figured the best he could do was keep calm while having the discussion, especially since she now had her arms folded signaling she had gone into one of her defensive modes. "I want to be here."

"Then why were you going to leave?" she asked him, still not satisfied with his answers

"Because you don't want me here," he told her simply.

This caused her shoulders to drop a little, and her armor faltered for a second before she responded. "What do you mean by that? I asked you to stay, of course I want you here."

"No, you want to want me here," he told her, "but you don't really want me here."

She stared at him for a little while, her arms falling to her side. He was right, well partially. She did want him there, it was no doubt about it, but she also wanted to be with Fitz. She was confused, utterly and completely. She had been madly in love with Fitz by the time Jake showed up on the scene, but that didn't necessarily mean that things were good at the time. They were far from it. She had experience more pain, humiliation, and self-loathing during that time than she experienced happiness she got from being with him. And she had tried to break free, but for one reason or another she had always gone back to him. Sometimes she didn't even have a good reason for climbing back into that situation. But the thing that had ultimately kept her going back was the prospect of having more of those good times more often if not all the time. She had held on to the fact that one day she and him would be able to be together in the way that they wanted to, but she was starting to wonder if they ever would and if everything she had gone through and given up for it would be worth it.

Then Jake had arrived on the scene, and even though she wouldn't admit it to the more conscious part of her brain, she had been intrigued from the time she laid eyes on him. And it did not help that every time the man opened his mouth he was either being charming, funny, or supportive of her in ways she had rarely if ever experienced. And sure they had had their disagreements but usually that was because one was telling the other one something that they needed to hear but didn't necessarily want to hear at that time, like now for instance. And eventually she had grown to care about him. So much that she knew there wasn't much that she would give up his presence in her life for, and that included a relationship with Fitz. Which with recent events, he would have no other choice but to accept if he wanted to be with her. So yes, she really wanted Jake to stay, but she knew he had a point. She didn't know to what extent she wanted him to stay or for how long.

"Liv, tell me you want me to stay," he told her. "Tell me you've made a choice and that you want me to stay, and I will sell all of my things and move in here with you and never think about leaving again." He knew he was asking for too much, for something she couldn't truthfully give him, but he had to make a point and make her see things from his perspective.

She stared into his eyes, the same eyes that Anna had stated were too bright and adorable to belong to a killer, and she had been right. Jake's eyes were one of the things she loved and hated about him. Anytime she needed reassurance and comfort all she had to do was look into his eyes and she could tell that he truly cared about her and that all of his words were genuine and that he was willing to continue to back them up with his actions. But there were times when she looked into those eyes and it made her sad. One reason being because she could see all of the pain housed there, and even more so the pain that she caused him. But she could also see how he genuinely wanted her to be happy, sometimes even more so than she would allow herself to be. She felt tears coming to her eyes and knew that trying to fight them back would be a lost cause, but she tried anyway.

She looked down to the floor and nodded her head gently. She couldn't give him what he had asked for. She wanted to so badly, but she knew that if she changed her mind later down the road that it would cause even more pain for him and she would be the reason for it. "I'm sorry," she stated almost silently.

This prompted him to take a few steps towards her and pull her into him and she buried her face into his chest where she continued to let the tears flow silently, wetting his shirt a little. She felt his lips press against the crown of her head before he responded, "Don't be sorry, Liv." He held her a few more moments, and after the tears slowed he stated that he would find an apartment close by. He then reluctantly let go of her and made his way out of the apartment.

She passed her hand over her stomach a few times as she made her way to the bar stool to have a seat. A new fleet of tears sprang forward and she continued to cry silently. Where the hell was Anna when she needed her?

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A/N: Hope you liked. Leave a review and tell me what about the story works and doesn't work (pacing, detail, etc.). Also what's you guys' prediction on the rest of the season. There are some spoilers that Fitz finally divorces Mellie for Liv, which I'm not sure if that means to marry Liv or to be in a more monogamous relationship not as adulterous or heavy on commitment as marriage. The thing is I can't decide if that is actually a legit spoiler or if that subsection of crazed Olitz stans put this out there and harped on it so much that it somehow got based in some type of fact because it was repeated so many times with so much certainty (shoulder shrug). Buuuuuttt...also heard that there was going to be a new love interest for Jake...yay! (don't get mad at me for being happy about that, I am genuinely pro both these characters even is not together, I just don't want Liv to end up with Fitz, but it will be interesting to see how Liv deals with Jake's new bae, whether Fitz is divorced or not. Something tells me we may get to see a little more catty Olivia even if it's just her vetting his date just to make sure she's worthy of him, lol, which would still be the cutest thing ever...well maybe not cuter than this Olake baby I'm writing but still. You get the picture.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: New Chapter. Don't know if I will get another one up before Jan. 29th so enjoy.

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She stood in the mirror giving herself a once over, and honestly, trying to figure out how to make her midsection look not as round or obvious, or something. Not that she personally mind it, it's just that she was going to head over to the office a little later to meet with a potential client and she didn't need it being a distraction. There was also a press conference being held at the white house to discuss recent events overseas in Angola and she also didn't need part of the focus turning to her baby bulge if she needed to show up at the white house at any point and time. The media still hadn't completely let go of the leak about her being Fitz's mistress. She hoped this baby would serve to put an end to all that. She notice her facial expression grow a little more sullen at the thought of using her baby to cover her affair with Fitz. Her eyes deviated away from her reflection in the mirror as the intense feeling of guilt and shame overcame her and she could no longer stomach looking at herself.

She continued to fiddle with the silk maternity shirt for a little longer. A couple of weeks had passed since Jake had left. Although, he had been over every day since, a bag of groceries accompanying him for the first ten days until she made him stop, to Anna's dismay. She had told him that there was no way she could eat a bag of groceries within a 24 hour period to which Anna had replied that's why she came over as often as possible to help. He had been staying at a hotel a few streets over and had recently found an apartment on her street, just a few blocks down. Which now that Anna was busier at the dance studio helping one of her friends put a show together, she had to admit she had become lonely since he left. It was probably because between him and Anna constantly being at her apartment and Abby and Quinn constantly being around either due to work or helping her get something in her personal life sorted in preparation for the baby, she had gotten used to not coming home to an empty apartment or being left alone with her sordid thoughts, which she didn't realize they were until she had actually gotten a break from them. It was funny how something so messed up didn't seem as messed up after you had been constantly exposed to it for a period of time.

She was pulled from her thoughts by a knock at her door. She sighed, flattening the bloused down one last time before giving up completely. There was a 35 week old fetus continuing to grow inside of her uterus, the world was just going to have to get over it. She knew who it was before she even opened the door. He had told her that he would be by to attend the doctor's visit with her. She checked the peep hole just to make sure it wasn't an unwanted visitor before she undid the lock and opened the door. She just stared at him. If she was honest, she was still a little upset with him for leaving. She didn't like not having him there with her.

"I didn't think you were coming," she lied. She knew he was, but again, she was still mad at him so she was giving him a hard time.

He gave her a knowing look as she turned and walked back into the apartment, leaving the door open for him to enter.

"I told you I was," he reminded her. There was no reason for her to think that he wasn't. He had done everything that he told her he would, being extra careful to do it in a timely manner these last couple of weeks knowing that even though she had given the okay for him to move out, she was still a little angry at him for doing so.

He looked around the living room as she continued about the apartment gathering her things and preparing to head out for the day. It was actually starting to look a lot like her old apartment, only bigger. It was starting to look and feel like a home again, after the last of the boxes had been unpacked and discarded. He wasn't surprised though, during the last week he had seen her starting to split her time between OPA, Abby and the White House, and doing little things around the apartment, which Abby had informed her that she was nesting. A term which she had rejected, but did admit that she was growing impatient waiting on the arrival of the baby. He looked around the apartment again. It really was huge. He didn't understand why she hadn't just purchased a condo or a home and didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing. Her lack of wanting to put down more permanent roots indicated that she planned on leaving D.C at some point. Rather it was to Vermont with Fitz or to make a run for it and leave D.C, Fitz, Cyrus, and everything political and toxic about her life behind whenever she got a clear opening was yet to be seen.

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She was back on her way to OPA for her late morning meeting, but a million and one other thoughts were running through her head. Jake had asked her to brunch afterwards to which she had accepted. They had chatted over the meal about various things, him clearly trying to stay away from stressful subjects. They had veered to the subject of names for the baby, which she had thought of but hadn't really discussed with anyone yet. He made a few suggestions, which she wasn't opposed to, before informing him that she had settled on Adeline. He responded by repeating the name and stating that he liked it, though she could tell he was a little bummed about not having any input. She countered this by telling him she hadn't picked a middle name to which he could choose, and that although she absolutely loved the name Adeline that they would probably end up using her middle name more often than not since she absolutely did not want anyone nick naming the child Addy. Not that she didn't like the name, but she was positive that there would be hundreds of other little girls running around the playground that went by the name Addy, and she wanted something more unique for her daughter. But she wasn't willing to give up the name Adeline just because it was associated with the name Addy. She loved the sound of the name, it sounded elegant but not to serious and it meant noble, something which she was hoping that the child possessed more of than anyone of her parents, family, or other adults that would be in her life. Not that the people she planned on having in her child's life weren't noble, their loyalties and priorities just often times led them astray... a lot. He smiled when he realized that she had actually thought this through and felt honored that she was giving him the responsibility of choosing the middle name as long as it wasn't anything too outrageous. He liked more androgynous names, to which she had agreed if just to make people do a double take when they likely expected a guy after her daughter had accomplished something the sexist people in the more prominent positions would figure no female ever could. He had proposed Ryan, which she liked because it went well with Adeline and she could see it now. The big wigs saying to bring that Ryan guy in here, we'd love to meet him, only to have her little girl turn the corner causing misogynistic jaws to hit the floor.

After that, they had parted ways, him telling her that he had a job offer he needed to check into. To which she had eyed him suspiciously, and after noting that he was avoiding eye contact with her after gathering his things had warningly called his name, making him look at her. "What does this job entail?" she asked him. To which he respond, "I don't believe that's any of your business," but he gave a little at least telling her it was nothing as immediately dangerous as B6-13. "What is that supposed to mean?" she questioned. There were few things in this world as dangerous as B6-13 so he wasn't giving her much. "Let me just say, it's not any more dangerous than what you're doing," and he left her with that after throwing two twenties on the table to pay for their meal and tip the waitress. She had stared after him as he walked out of the coffee house, still not pleased with the responses she had received.

She had left the coffee house and started the walk towards her office. She figured she'd walk since she still had time and she was hoping that walking would cause this kid to pop out sooner rather than later. The doctor had told her that the good news was that babies born at 34 weeks or after generally did fine, so she could at least ease her fears of a preterm birth a little. And that every week after this week she made it through the pregnancy would just serve to reassure that the baby would be fine whenever she decided to make her appearance. Unfortunately she had also informed her that a lot of first time mothers often went past their due date and some of them even ended up having to be induced because after a week post due date, the rates of problems with the birth or complications with the baby started to go up again. She didn't want her baby to come early as she wanted her to come out under optimal circumstances but she also did not want to go a day past her 40 week mark since it seemed to offer no added benefit. Hell it seemed after 38 weeks there wasn't really any added benefit so she was open to that two week time frame. The first trimester had been just miserable between the morning sickness, fatigue and coming to term with the pregnancy itself. The second semester had been a lot better, but now it was just becoming uncomfortable. There were two human beings trying to occupy the same space, and she didn't know how much more give her insides had.

Her thoughts traveled to her parents. Her father in all of his craziness had shown up at her apartment the week before. She and Anna had walked in to find him sitting at her dining room table. She had told him to leave, he had pulled a gun on them. Anna had informed him of his need for a stay in a mental institution as he felt he needed to bring gifts, referring the records he had brought, and a gun to the same meeting. She had then pulled the trigger of the unloaded gun on him, which really threw Anna for a loop after he screamed and reacted as if she had really shot him. He left, vowing he was gone for good, to which Anna asked him if he promised this time. He just gave both of them a stern look before leaving. The whole ordeal caused them to sleep in the same bed for the next few days to which Anna had stated she was just concerned for her and the baby, but Olivia knew that incident had terrified Anna just as much as it had her, and did not object to the sleeping arrangements either way.

She had then been informed that her mother had been found at Wonderland and was being held in Super Max. Her mother's jaw hit the floor, speechless, as Olivia entered the room, her stomach leading the way. She had then whispered a "Well I'll be damned," upon seeing Anna enter behind her. She stared at Anna for a while, not having seen her since, well she didn't exactly know when because she was positive that her parents' habit of stalking her extended to Anna, and she had lost track of her mother the first time she had broken out of custody. "Hey Aunt Ma…hmm," Anna had started before turning to Olivia and asking her what they were calling the woman now. Her mother had replied telling the girl to call her what she had always called her. Anna, in her perfect form turned to her and greeted her as "My late Aunt Maya," to which her mother, not really being in the mood for Anna's smart mouth had told her to "Watch it little girl." She then turned her attention to Olivia, "Baby please, tell me you didn't let this fool do that to you," Olivia shifted uncomfortably as she motioned to Fitz before motioning to Olivia's midsection. Olivia shifted uncomfortably as her mother went on but didn't say anything as Jake and Fitz continued to try to get some information out of her. She ignored them, "Oh, Livvie I wanted so much more for you than this, Baby. Why? Why would you do this?" Still no verbal response from Olivia as her eyes started to fill with tears. She didn't know why? She should be happy that her mother was disappointed in her. The only way she could see her not being disappointed in her is if she was an international fugitive killing random important people if they didn't stand for what she stood for or give her what she wanted.

"That's enough Maya," Jake said slamming his hands down on the table after seeing the tears in Olivia's eyes. Her mother being the perceptive one, turned to Jake, unfazed by his outburst and observed him closely before looking back to Olivia and doing the same. She then turned to Fitz who had this sad look on his face she attributed to weakness. She then turned to Anna who was trying to avoid eye contact with everyone now. She knew the girls MO having helped raise her from a baby. It didn't take long to put the picture together.

She then turned back to Olivia stating that she still wasn't impressed, but at least that was better than the alternative. Olivia, growing tired of her antics had told them to charge and arrest her, before she walked out without another word.

By the time she finished backtracking through the events of the last few weeks she was in front of her office building. She tried to clear the previous thoughts from her head and focus on the task that lay ahead.

"Good morning," she greeted Huck and Quinn as she made her way to her office. They grumbled back their greetings, neither of them looking up from their laptops. She discarded her outer layers and pulled her phone from her purse before going through it to make sure she didn't have any missed messages. She then began checking news updates and texting Abby just to make sure she hadn't missed anything that had gone on with Fitz or any other part of the white house. She had just pressed send on a text to Abby when she heard the ding of the elevator. She put her phone in her desk and took a deep breath. The good thing about this case was the fact that the client actually had time to call and make an appointment and not just barge into the office begging for their help told her that it probably wasn't a big deal and they would probably be able to solve it in a few days.

"Mr. Rosenbaum's here," Quinn alerted her as she held the door open for the client and what she assumed was his wife to enter.

"It's nice to meet you," she smiled as she stood up to go over to greet them and saw the man's face drop noticeably.

"Oh, you're pregnant," he stated the obvious.

She would think that by now, seeing how much these chauvinistic bastards ended up on their door step begging for her help, they would have gotten over the fact that she was a woman by the time they got there.

"Yes," she stated trying to maintain a pleasant tone. "I am also a woman, in case you missed that part of it. Is that going to be a problem?"

"Oh, no. No I didn't mean it like that," the man explained as his wife looked at him with a smug grin, making it seem as though he had a habit of saying things that made him sound like an ass. "It just looks like you're pretty far along. Are you going to be able to handle this situation for us? Because I'm not paying you all of this money to let your employees screw this up."

She maintained her smile, which took a lot out of her. "Mr. Rosenbaum, you are not paying all of this money to have my employees screw anything up, you are paying to have them help you with a problem you have, as have every other client who has walked through that door. I rarely ever handle a case alone and I assure you my employees are handpicked by me and more capable than anyone else you are going to find if you walk out of that door. Now," she finally was able to let the smile go, "can we get down to business. What are you here for?" On second thought she hoped that they would solve this case by the next day. This guy was already rubbing her the wrong way. It didn't go any better when he turned out to have the typical problem of any senator, CEO, insert any important title of not being able to keep it in his pants and being stupid enough to not use protection and now he had an illegitimate child and needed to keep the mother quiet and out of his bank account. And as always, he thought that this was the biggest thing on her plate right now. She wondered if these people knew how often things like this happened. She figured they probably didn't which was a good thing because her business would probably slow substantially if they realized every Tom, Dick, and Harry in the upper echelons of business and politics had a love child running around. What would be the use of concealing it if they knew how commonly it happened?

She reassured the man and his wife, who glanced at the man every now and then to give him a spiteful look and only spoke to point out her husband's stupidity and ignorance, that everything would be handled and save for making sure that the child was well taken care of and had a college fund, they would no longer have to worry about issuing out any of their monetary funds to the mother. Which she felt a little weird about now, given her current situation. She found herself wondering how the relationship between the man and the mistress had played out. Had it been just about sex or was it a world wind romance? Had he promised her a life together or had she, as he put it, tried to trap him by getting knocked up? She doubted that he was telling the truth, he just seemed like the type to pull the victim card after he had done something to get himself in a difficult situation. Either way, he was a client and she was going to fix this for him.

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A/N: Hey guys, so I know I've been trying to incorporate some of the events of the actual show into this but that may stop unless something happens on the show that I really like or really plays well into the story I'm trying to convey. More Liv/Jake next chapter and hopefully a baby in the next chapter or 2. Either way, comments are welcomed.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: So I lied. I got bored/didn't want to do any real work so I ended up writing another chapter. I'm going to try to start adding in story lines for other characters but I don't know when it will be as I cant decide on how I want to go about doing it.

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"Nice," had read the simple text message he had sent to her after her press conference. It had recently become public speculation that she could be pregnant and of course at the press conference that had had nothing to do with that subject, ended up in her confirming the speculations after being asked by one nosey reporter, as if it wasn't obvious by now.

The next question to follow was of course about should the white house or more specifically the first lady be concerned at this time given the past rumors of an affair with the president. She had politely reassured them that the white house, the president, the first lady nor the American people had anything of that nature to be concerned about when it came to her pregnancy. She had then redirected the press conference back to the subject at hand about the president's recent negotiations with a terrorist group that could possibly be a threat to the country. Any other questions aimed at her pregnancy, and there were some, was quickly shot down and dismissed. After the reporters saw that she no longer called on the ones who tried to reintroduce the subject of her growing midsection or an affair with the president, the questions started to die down and she was able to continue in a more organized and peaceful fashion.

Afterwards she had nearly run away from the white house before anyone had had a chance to question her about what she had just confirmed in front of the entire country. She had already seen Cyrus shaking his head from the side of the stage during the entire ordeal, and Fitz standing next to him with his head down throwing her a judging look every now and again, but she had managed to ignore them all, wrangle the reporters and tackle the questions that were thrown at her. "I'm fine," she had told Abby as she passed her already reading the worried look on her face and opting to pass by her on her way out rather than Cyrus and Fitz standing on the other side of the stage.

"Well you destroyed him more than I ever could," Mellie had told her with a wide smile. She had rolled her eyes and ignored the woman's comments, wanting to get home and away from the circus she had just created by going up on that podium.

* * *

She found herself sitting in her kitchen sipping on a warm cup of tea. She had been talking to Anna earlier telling her about her past few cases, which had all involved an illegitimate child or an affair or both, but keeping the clients' names out of it just as a confidentiality thing. Not that Anna would tell anyone, it was just good practice. Her response of, "Same assholes, just twenty years older," somewhat shocked her as it brought back old memories of them in high school.

_"Are you two crazy?" her father yelled as he paced back and forth in the dean's office of their high school. "Do you have any idea the fire you are playing with?"_

_She saw Anna turn to her out of her side view and shared a look with her before looking down at the floor. _

_"It's not our faults," Olivia started, "the school didn't do anything about it."_

_"Well I was told that the boys had been reprimanded," her father replied. _

_"They got suspended for two weeks," Anna piped up in disbelief that he was going to buy their bullshit, "They raped her. How as that fair? I didn't even know suspension was a thing here." It wasn't. Suspension at their school had not existed until someone needed a way to punish someone whose parents were too wealthy for them to be punished. "They should be castrated," Anna finished. _

_"You know we're right," Olivia told her father, backing Anna's statement. _

_"Look maybe the school should have done more to punish those boys but that is between the school and that girl's parents. My main concern is the two of you. And you two will no longer insert yourselves into this investigation in any way, shape or form, do I make myself clear?"_

_They didn't answer. Both just looked down at the floor as the dean entered. _

_"Hello Mr. Pope," Dr. Gillanhall stated as he walked into the room a little more jolly than the situation called for. Olivia had noticed that a lot of the people of power including parents did this around this place when they were trying to make a point or throw their social influence around. "I'm sorry you had to come all the way down her for this, but as I'm sure you've heard, your girls have been stirring up a bit of trouble here."_

_Her dad smiled at the man. "Yes, I've heard," he stated as he threw a glare their way. "Some things never change."_

_"Now as I'm sure you know, we like to encourage our students to look for opportunities to add to their CV's for their college and possibly job applications in the future. But as you also know, we are a very private institution and there are a lot of very important people that send their children here and leave them under our care. And they trust us to look after them, keep them on the right path," he stated as he pulled out a cigar box and opened it in her father's direction, to which he politely declined. "They also trust us to keep any of their teenage misadventures out of public knowledge for fear of it hurting their academic and employment opportunities down the road."_

_"Yes, I am aware of that," her father continued to play along, pleasantly._

_"How can I put this?" Dr. Gillanhall said to himself before bringing his eyes back to her father's, "this school and those two boys parents did not take kindly to your girls writing an article to one of the local papers about the incidents that had occurred her. I mean sure it was a local paper, but God knows the damage that could have been done if we hadn't stomped out that fire as quickly as we did. Thankfully no permanent damage was done, but the parents of those two boys are calling for them to be reprimanded on slander. Now I was able to quiet them down, but I just want to make sure that you and these girls are well aware of the trouble that they would be in, if something like this were to happen again." He looked directly at Anna and her when he stated that last sentence, the smile completely gone from his face, making it clear to everyone in the room that it was a threat. _

_She looked over at her father as he took a moment to recompose himself before a smile appeared on his face. He began to speak. "Mr. Gillanhall, I can assure you that nothing like this will ever happen again as far as these two girls or concerned. However I can also assure you that if you, any of your students or their parents so much as touch a hair on either of my girls' heads, a word on their school record, or a letter on their transcript, if they so much as tell me someone looked at them in the wrong way and I think it was unwarranted, I will be back up here and a local or national paper about two little delinquents whose parents weren't around enough to teach them how to behave around civilized human beings will be the last of your any anyone's worries."_

_Olivia's eyes snapped back to Dr. Gillanhall. Had her father just threatened this man and a whole bunch of rich powerful people that could destroy them just by picking up the telephone? Gillanhall looked like he was about to reply until her father readjusted his coat, sitting up straighter in his chair before standing. He placed a kiss on both her and Anna's head before telling them to behave themselves and quietly leaving the office. Back then, her sixteen year old self wondered what the hell had just happened but now she knew that it was probably the first sign that they missed of her father being involved in something less than ethical. _

A knock at her door shook her from her thoughts as she climbed down from the stool, the cup of tea still in her hands. She would normally wonder what had happened for someone to be knocking on her door at this time of the morning, but she was expecting Anna. Still she peeped through the peep hole to be sure. Her eyebrows drew together when she saw Jake.

She undid the latch and opened the door. She could tell he hadn't long ago woke up. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, Anna called me about an hour ago and yelled at me. I was really confused at first because I was actually getting some pretty good sleep, but then she told me that if I was going to have unprotected sex that I, not her was going to pay the consequences. Actually she lectured me about, in her words not mine, "knocking someone up while living the street life" and then "going to D block while I have to sit and watch her eat food combinations that make my stomach turn" and you "being in a love triangle with men who can't keep their penises to themselves". I substituted the work penis. I'm actually not familiar with the word she used." He smiled at her and her eyes went to the bag in his hand.

He lifted it higher in the air, letting her see it was the Chinese food she had request from the one Chinese place that stays open until 3 am. She opened the door wider, allowing him to enter.

"Sorry she woke you," she told him as they made their way to the kitchen.

"Oh no, it's always a pleasure talking to Anna," she couldn't help the smile that came to her face as she refilled her tea. She poured him a cup and went to sit across from him at the island bar. She knew that last comment was part sarcasm part truth. Anna had taken a liking to Jake, Huck, and Quinn, or Lindsay as Anna had taken to calling her occasionally, but that still didn't save them the trouble of having Anna give her input on their lives or asking for their input on hers occasionally. "Besides," he started again, "you could've just called me first."

She glanced at him before turning back to the food in front of her. "I know," she told him, now purposefully avoiding eye contact with him.

He smiled to himself at how childish she was being. "But, you're still upset with me for moving out," he finished her thoughts for her.

"I'm not upset with you," she said hopping down from the bar stool and trying not to waddle over to the pantry. His smile broadened as he watched her maneuver around the beach ball sized extension in front of her. She turned around after retrieving the syrup and caught her eyes caught his. "Well, maybe a little bit," she confessed after seeing he wasn't buying her previous lie. "But don't rush me," she began, pouring the syrup on top of the Chinese food. "I'm getting over it." She put the syrup back in the pantry before making her way back to the stool next to him.

He watched as she prepared herself to climb back up onto the stool. He would never say anything, but she had gotten even larger during the last few weeks and he found it a little amusing to see her in such a state, especially since she still tried to seem intimidating while having trouble doing simple things that would be easy to anyone without the physical constraint. Like that time she tried to scold Anna while taking almost a minute to rise up from the couch. And when Anna had tried to help her she only glared at her, refusing the helping hand.

She noticed the grin on his face, but didn't say anything. Truth was, she found it a little comical too, when it wasn't down right frustrating. She was now 39 weeks into this and hopefully would be able to get this over with sometime within the next seven days.

"Why are you awake anyway?" he asked as she made her way up to sit on the stool with some difficulty.

"Because, Jake," she started as she continued to struggle with the stool, "look at me."

He couldn't help the laughter that escaped him especially since she was trying to be stern with him and pretend to be frustrated by his question. Pretend because he could see the small smile form on her face when he started laughing. She finally settled herself on the stool and picked up her fork, stirring the syrup into the takeout.

He didn't say a word about this and saw what Anna meant about food derangements. She continued, explaining to him the countless number of reasons why she could not sleep. "I can't get comfortable for the life of me. And heaven forbid I accidentally roll onto my back if I do manage to fall asleep. Not to mention her head is resting on my hip bone and I feel like she does it on purpose anytime I try to get some sleep. And then there's lightning crotch," she smiled as she saw his eyes light up and his grin grow wider. "Don't laugh," she said nudging him on the shoulder before taking a bite of her food.

"What is that?" he asked, still laughing.

"Well, I just thought that it was a painful phenomenon of pregnancy but Anna looked it up and found that it actually had a name," he looked at her waiting for her to continue. "I'm not sure but it's either her hitting me somewhere very unpleasant or it's just some ligaments or some other things adjusting for child birth or she's resting on a nerve or something, but it's a very sharp, sudden pain that lasts for like a millisecond but it takes your breath away." She finished before stuffing another forkful of food into her mouth. She looked at him and they both started laughing. What the hell was happening, neither of them could explain it but it was scary. Luckily they both had developed somewhat of a dark sense of humor, but even more so, they were too excited about and committed to this baby to let the scarier part get the better of them.

She went on explaining how between all of this, plus having to urinate which seemed like every two hours, she only got about three good hours of sleep a night, if she was lucky.

She got off of the stool taking the left over take out and placing it in the fridge. "Wanna watch a movie?" she asked walking past him and into the living room. He got up, grabbing the stash of fortune cookies, and followed her.

They settled on the couch and decided on a comedy since Olivia thought that if she laughed it might help her to go into labor earlier. After Jake stated that that probably wasn't going to work, she told him to shut it because she was still upset with him.

"Alright," he told her throwing his hands up in the air, "what can I do to make this better, preferably before this baby gets here?"

She looked at him, a smirk slowly appearing across her face. His brows furrowed, not really sure what thoughts were running through her mind. "Move back in with me," she told him simply.

His mouth opened, but he paused. He gave her a moment to see if she was serious. When she didn't retract her request he spoke. "Liv I," he tried but she cut him off.

"Okay, I am going to be giving birth to this baby any day now," he smiled letting her continue. She really thought that she was going to spontaneously go into the labor in the next couple of days. The doctor had had different thoughts though yesterday when they had seen her. She had even discussed a possible need for induction. So on the bright side, this baby was going to be here one way or another in the next two weeks. "I'm here by myself all the time," he gave her a look. She usually had someone over. "At night," she corrected. "And," she continued with her argument, "you are not going to skip out on me for night time feedings and diaper changes. I did all of this," she pointed at her stomach for emphasis, "for nine months, it's your turn to pull the load my friend."

He just stared at her for a moment taking in all that she had said and how easily they slipped from her being slightly upset with him to feeling like they had been friends for a lifetime. He also couldn't help but to notice how peaceful and happy she looked. Something about her had definitely changed since he had gotten out of supermax, and not just physically. She was beautiful as always, and found it endearing the way her face had filled out a little towards the end of the pregnancy which was more noticeable now that she had her hair away from her face into a loose bun, but he noticed something else. He noticed a bit of a change then, but it seemed to be more obvious now. He figured it mostly had to do with Anna. Or either the hormones causing her walls to subconsciously come down a little more. She was letting another side of herself show more. A side that he had known was there all along and had actually gotten pretty familiar with while they were away. She was more relaxed and less serious. He figured on the island that was due to not feeling like she had to watch her back every second of every minute just in case someone was trying to destroy her. Now, he figured it was due to the fact that she had actually started trying to make a change for a more stable life due to the baby. Plus every time she tried to, as David would put it, Pope them, Anna was there to call bullshit. Which seemed to frustrate her but it also made her confront things in a more realistic head on fashion. Except for the Fitz thing. She just usually got quiet and left the room whenever Anna pointed out anything about him or their relationship that didn't correlate with the happy fairytale ending she had obviously constructed in her head. It was a subject he just didn't broach and had taken to ignoring himself. He was putting some distance between them, as far as an intimate relationship went, so he had no right to say anything. Well he did have a right, as a friend, but she hadn't asked his opinion, and he was trying to let her figure this out on her own without and interference from him. He was sure other people would interfere, but at the end of the day, no matter the outcome, he would find his piece of mind in the fact that he let her have her personal space from him in order to make this decision. But in the short term, she had a point. He didn't like her being alone by herself with the baby coming so soon and he knew that she would need his help once the baby was here and he wanted to be there. After all, he didn't see a problem with it. He still had his own place giving them that boundary that was needed to establish their separate spaces and remind him that playing house didn't necessarily mean the same thing as building a home, something his mother would always tell him.

"Okay," he told her.

"Okay," she told him with a smile, happy she had won. One thing that had Achanged, he thought, getting her way still put her on cloud nine. She began arranging different pillows around her on the sofa, trying to get comfortable. "You can start bringing your stuff over tomorrow."

He laughed. "Whatever you say Liv?"

"Wanna see something?" She was gonna say weird or freaky or one of the other words that Anna or Abby had used but decided against it not wanting to use such words to describe her body especially as it pertained to her growing her child, even if she did agree with them.

She laid on her back, using a pillow to prop her head up and lifted her shirt reviewing her swollen abdomen. He was about to make a smart remark about not knowing she was pregnant and sensing it she told him to, "Wait," Before he could get the words out. He continued to stare at her stomach and before long saw what he would describe as a shift in shape as the child was obviously moving. She smiled, "Wait," she instructed him still. He did. He was reward by a tiny foot print appearing under her skin, near the top of her abdomen.

Their eyes flickered up to each other and his face indicated he was both amazed and creeped out. Her face mirrored his as she was anticipating that exact reaction.

"That's so creepy," he laughed reaching to feel the area the foot print had just disappeared from.

"It's not creepy," she laughed, at the dorky faces they were both making.

He let his hand rest on the left side of her abdomen, as the continued to discuss the right word to use for the phenomenon they had just experienced. She didn't notice as it happened gradually but the baby shifted from her right hip closer to his hand. It wasn't until she noticed that the uncomfortable pressure was gone that she noticed the baby had moved, they could now see it lying next to Jake's hand.

"How'd you do that?" She asked surprised but grateful. "I've been trying to get her to move for the last hour."

He smiled at the thought that crossed his mind. The little girl being just as stubborn as Olivia and refusing to shift just because her mother was trying to coerce her to.

A/N: Reviews welcomed.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Okay, first off. How fun was it watching this last Scandal episode? I feel like it was the Sandal of old. If Kerry Washington ever does a thriller and/or horror piece, I don't think I will be able to see it because she is too much of a good actress. It used to be five minutes after the show I was still sitting there trying to figure out what had just happened, but after this episode I was trying to figure out what had happened to me because I was on the floor screaming instructions at the television by the end of the episode, lol, and then when it went off I was just laying there. Anywho I've read a lot of interpretations of Olivia's dreams and everyone brings up some really interesting points, but I haven't seen anyone bring up the point that when Jake was in the dream it was actually related to her current reality where as the Fitz part of it was in no way shape or form related to anything that is currently going on in her life right now except for Abby, remotely the Tom thing which is over, and the fact that she screwed him which hasn't happened in a while. Plus the 'don't let go part', again this may just be me projecting my inner demons and faults on the character of Olivia but I can see how it could apply to her too. When she told Jake not to let go, to me that was short for 'Yes, I know I'm effing things up, but I know you love me and I need you to keep loving me because I'm going to get my shit together sooner or later and stop hurting you, so I need you to just stick through this with me. I don't know where this will leave us at the end of it all, but I do know that I want us to be on good terms, I want you in my life in some way shape or form.' Which is why she paused when Abby asked her where's Jake, she didn't even pause like that when she asked about Huck being in a pound and you know that's her boy. And then his reply, of I won't, just goes to show how much she actually trusts him with her vulnerability. She knows he's not going to leave her, because he told her he wouldn't and she believes him, it's just hard for her to believe that someone is actually sticking with her and putting up with all of her BS.

Plus, it seems like they set Olake up from some straight up mental harmonious teamwork (hope it goes that way anyway). When that guy was mocking Jake for running out into the street, Olivia was looking at the screen like 'Alright, he's going to need my help to save me this time.' And then she took off the ring and tucked it under the rug while looking at Jake on the screen like she expects him to find it and come for her. Her belief in their two people partnership is still strong, by evidence of that and her dreaming of him saving her. I may be delusional and seeing what I want to see, but I just don't think this set Olake back in anyway. Didn't necessarily move it forward but it revealed a little bit more to us about Liv's actual thoughts on both men.

Plus: I would like to bring up the fact that I was having a discussion in one of my other fics with an Olitzer who stated that she might love Jake but she is in love with Fitz. And my reply was that I didn't think she loved anyone of them, and what was her response when Abby asked her if she loved either of them? What was her response? Deflection and defensive reply! Liv is still figuring out how to sit with Liv comfortably, when she figures that out maybe, just maybe she can love someone else in that way, and no shade, but I'm just saying I doubt that would be Fitz unless some major changes happens because she is just too smart to end up with him the way he and everything is right now, which is why Tom had to be there to protect him (a.k.a keeping him from killing himself) from her when she kites out again, because she really ain't bout that life that Fitz trying to sell her. And then maybe, if Jake get a real job and stop killing people and stops accumulating hits on his life, maybe just maybe it could be him or it could be somebody else completely. Who's to say? I guess Shonda, and we'll have to wait and see what she does with this.

Plus: Why the hell did she drop that gun? I would have been shooting everyone that approached me until I got back to my apartment or at least to some faces that I knew that weren't in on my kidnapping. But I guess it had to go that way for the show to take the direction they want it to go. Just like Jake the B613 trained black ops agent failed to investigate the suspicious noise coming from the apartment cross the hall. Creative licence, I'm not mad.

Anyways, I digress, here's the next chapter.

* * *

"Let me just say, this was an awesome idea," Abby said as she dipped another cracker into the crab dip.

"Yes," Anna agreed. "Although I will say I have already gained five pounds since I moved here messing around with you and this sympathy weight," she finished looking at Olivia.

They had decided to have post baby prepping party, an idea they had gotten from one of the third time mothers in the prenatal yoga class. It was when all of the expectant woman's friends gathered at her house around the time the baby was due to help her eat all of the junk food she had stocked during the third trimester, since that was the time she would usually find herself going to the store and just picking up random things that she would normally not eat. That way she would be better prepared to get on the post baby body training schedule and not feel compelled to eat all of the leftover food in her house simply to keep it from going to waste.

Olivia reminded Anna that it was okay because she expected her to come to the gym and train with her and also partake in some of her dieting. To which Anna completely agreed at this point since her dancing was starting to pick up a little more and she was actually getting more serious job offers in D.C now that her work was becoming more known around the area.

"So tomorrow makes forty weeks," Quinn told her. "What did the doctor say?"

"Nothing," Olivia told her.

"She told her her cervix was still closed," Anna offered, making Olivia give her a look to which she responded by laughing.

"Sorry Liv," Abby told her. They all knew how miserable Olivia was and to be honest they were all growing increasingly anxious. They wanted to meet this little one, but they were also afraid that Olivia was going to flip out and start offing people any second, especially after seeing her go on one of her more vicious verbal rants with one of the clients after they discovered she had lied to them. They had all witnessed it and had taken a little more interest in her mental and emotional stability during the last week.

"Why don't you just have sex?" Anna told her. The three other women shared a look as Anna continued to eat from the bowl of chocolate pudding.

"What are you talking about?" Abby asked her.

"Have sex," she said nonchalantly. "It'll make you go into labor."

"No it won't," Quinn told her, but the three women were still looking to her, clearly interested in her reasoning.

"Uhh, yes," she replied.

"Anna, you can't induce labor by having sex," Olivia told her.

"Okay, fine whatever," she defended, "but I think I know more about this than any of you."

"How do you know more about this than anyone in this room?" Olivia asked her in a sarcastic, yest somewhat placating tone, seeing her take a defensive stance.

"Because Olivia," she told her causing Abby to smile as they were again slipping back into the role of the young twenty-somethings she had grown to know and love, "I actually had stable female friends back in LA. Some of them who were actually sane enough to hide their insanity long enough to get and keep a man in a stable relationship and pop out some babies." She looked back down at her phone, before mumbling. "Which is more than I can say for any of you."

"Well, gee thanks," Abby told her letting her know they had heard her. She didn't care.

"How does it work?" Quinn asked not fazed by Anna's comments as she had grown used to them.

"I think it's something in the sperm," she told them. "It causes the cervix to soften or something. It has some of the stuff that they used to induce labor in the hospital, at least that's the theory I hear. And the orgasm can start the uterus contracting. And if you get someone who knows how to hit all four cylinders at once, the nipple stimulation…"

"Alright Anna," Olivia interrupted her. "We get it." She took a sip from her tea before going for the crab dip sitting in front of Abby.

"That actually sounds like it might work, Liv," Abby told her, after a collective moment of silence from the room. "I mean if sperm can help to make a baby, it has to be useful for something else, right?

"It does work," Anna told her, "And you've got perfectly good dick right here under the same roof with you, so if you want to pop this kid out in the next couple of days and not have to wait another week, I suggest you saddle up and mount his ass," she finished before getting up to go into the kitchen to grab another bottle of wine.

Olivia watched as she disappeared into the kitchen wondering how Anna still had not managed to learn how to censor her mouth even in her 30's. The thought however had intrigued her and she found herself contemplating Anna's suggestion. She wanted this baby out and she could think of less pleasant ways to go about getting that done.

* * *

"Hey, how'd it go?" she asked from the couch as he walked into the living room. He had gone to talk to a friend about a job earlier and told her that he would probably be back later as he planned to grab a few beers and catch up with said friend. To which she had mildly threatened him that if he got himself killed or incarcerated, lawfully or unlawfully, while she was literally due to go into labor at any moment, he would be begging her to hand him over to her father by the time she got through with him. He had informed her that it was a legit meeting and that he would be back unscathed at the end of the night after their girls' night was finished. He had found it best to not be in a room alone with them as it made him feel alienated as they one, often ignored him or two, they usually set him up asking him for a guy's perspective on a topic they were discussing to which he concluded the only correct answer was to remain silent which they would not let him do.

"It went okay," he told her as he went into the kitchen to grab a beer. She waited until he came back out. "Sorry I missed you guys' eating party," he lied causing her to smile and hit him lightly on the arm.

"Did you enjoy spending time with your friend?" she asked, causing him to pause and take more notice of her demeanor. She was too happy to see him. Since his eyes had popped open that morning he hadn't been able to do anything better than slightly annoy Olivia.

"Yeah," he told her, studying her a little longer before turning back to the television. Whatever it was, it would play itself out, soon. He could feel it coming.

"How's he been? Was he happy to see you?" she continued.

Okay, now he was getting worried. She was clearly up to something. One thing he had established before he had left was that Olivia did not like this friend, even though she had not met him. She didn't like this whole secretive job thing and therefore had decided that she didn't like his friend. So why was she all of a sudden interested in his well-being and if he had had a good night out.

"He's good," he told her, trying to catch her angle. "We had fun."

He continued to look at her waiting for her to continue, but she simply replied, "That's good," before turning back to the nightly news. He soon turned back to the television himself but her next question made his head snap back in her direction.

"You wanna have sex?" she asked bluntly, and in a way that made all of the previous questions seem like the niceties a college guy would extended before trying to get a girl to go back to his apartment with him. He nearly choked on his beer.

"I'm sorry, what?" he asked for clarification.

"I asked if you wanted to have sex," she told him, in disbelief of his surprised reaction. It wasn't like she was asking him to rejoin B6-13 and the most that could come from her request had already happened so she didn't see what the big deal was. "You don't want to have sex with me?" She seemed as if her feelings were hurt a little bit.

"I didn't say that," he quickly corrected. "I just didn't know we were on...sex having terms right now. You've seemed a little annoyed with me lately."

"I have not," she lied.

"Liv before I left earlier, you told me to stop breathing on you," he stated making his point. "I was five feet away from you." She had really been on edge with everyone, he just assumed he got the worst of it because he was under the same roof as her and because he was unable to get pregnant. He got this from the fact that after he pointed out to her that they should probably leave her hospital bag next to the door instead of putting it in a car since they still hadn't decided which car they would be taking when the time came or if they would possibly need to call an ambulance. He then told her that they should probably keep one at her office too to which she turned to yell at him, "I'm sorry, are you going to be the one doing this?" After that he had learned to keep his opinions to himself until he was specifically asked for them, though there was now a bag at her office and perched under the table stand next to the door. Usually he would call her out on her craziness but he figured since she was obviously going through something he could never experience that he would let her have it. Also he didn't even think that she would care at this point if he pointed out to her that she was behaving like an insane person.

She just glared at him before reiterating her original question. "Do you want to have sex or not?"

"Ye…yeah," he stumbled over the word.

"Okay then," she stated letting him know that it was always meant to be a yes or no question and she didn't appreciate his deviation from that plot with his questions and opinion passing.

He was about to ask how they were going to maneuver the mechanics of it this time, but didn't get a chance as she straddled him and pressed her lips to his. Her hand immediately went for the zipper on his jeans. She stuck her hand through the zipper opening and smiled against his lips when she realized he already had a half hard on.

* * *

"Are you okay?" Huck asked her as he saw her grab the bottom of her stomach and place her hand on the wall as she bent forward a little. "You want me to call Jake, or Abby , or…someone?" He was a little nervous. Somehow he had been the one to get left at the office with the term pregnant woman. He had been trained for a lot of things in his life including digging through a persons insides as a form of torture, but this wasn't one of them.

"I'm fine," she said straightening up again. She made it across the hall to her office and grabbed a few papers before starting to head back towards the conference room. She had just made it through the door of the conference room when she felt the same pain causing her to, again grab the wall, the papers slipping from her hand.

"Liv, let me call…," Huck tried as he stood up from his seat.

"I'm fine Huck," she insisted. She had been having these contractions, god she hoped it was contractions and not Braxton Hicks again, all morning. She had talked to the doctor who told her that she should come in the following morning unless the contractions become more frequent, she experienced bleeding, or it seemed like her water had broken. The contractions had been more frequent during the last two hours, every five to ten minutes to be exact but she was trying to ignore it as she wanted to finish up the day at the office before she was confined to a hospital bed for a few days.

She stooped, with some trouble to help Huck pick up the papers she had dropped but only made it half way down before she stood up suddenly and looked down at her stomach. Huck noticed her sudden movement and looked up at her. "What? What's wrong?" he asked her, sensing the change in her demeanor.

She looked at him, eyes wide and took a second to register the wetness she felt before replying. "I think," no she didn't think, either it had happened or she was starting to have hallucinations or she had loss all control and sensation of her bladder function. "My water just broke," she told him.

He stared at her for a moment before he stood too, forgetting the papers on the floor. "What do you want me to do?"

It took her a minute to reply. She had to gather her thoughts. She had been waiting for this for a while and had been trying to actively make it happen for the last two weeks, but now she was shocked that it was actually happening.

"Liv," Huck called her name causing her to look up at him. "What do you want me to do?" he asked again.

"Okay," she said gathering her thoughts. She took a second to think, "Okay, grab my bag in my office, it's behind my desk and drive me to the hospital."

"Okay," Huck said as he ran to her office to get her bag. He returned and they made their way to the elevator. He focused on navigating through the afternoon traffic, trying to avoid areas known for the heavier, stand still traffic. He called Jake after he had safely gotten her handed off to a nurse as he was able to take a good breath then, and informed him of their current situation. After talking to Jake, he proceeded to call everyone else.

* * *

"Here. Take them," she said in a clearly frustrated tone as she tossed the phone to Anna and returned to her hunched over position, preparing to have a needle placed into her back. Her phones had been ringing all day. Her regular phone more than the one Fitz called her on but she couldn't help but think some of those calls on the other phone were either about him or from him. She was in pain and now she was super stressed as she was trying to prepare to welcome her first child into the world because the people who had stolen countless nights of sleep and endless moments of solitude from her couldn't give her a few days to do just that. She managed to steal a side glance at Jake who just stared at her with those eyes. It wasn't so much that she felt like he was judging her than he was invading her thoughts and knew exactly what she was thinking, feeling and that she had wanted to throw the phones against the wall rather than to Anna who stood at the end of the bed since she had been growing more and more frustrated every time the phone rang. Damn him and those eyes, she wanted to punch him in the face.

The pain in her back erased that thought from her mind as she flinched a little bit and let out a low hissing sound. The doctor apologized and informed her that it was numbing medication in preparation for the epidural needle and that it should be the worst part before warning her not to move for the fiftieth time. She then felt a familiar hand slip into hers and opened her eyes to see Jake had moved closer to her, offering her his hand for support which she gladly took. Before she could fully appreciate the comforting measure, she heard a ringing sound coming from behind her and whipped her head around towards Anna, sending a murderous glare her way, or rather towards the objects in her hand.

"I'm going," Anna said holding the phones up in the air in surrender as she tip toed out of the room, afraid Olivia might attack her in her quest to destroy the phones she had just thrown to her.

Olivia turned facing forward again, trying to re-assume the position she had been in before she moved. She heard the doctor sigh before once again informing her that this was the very critical part as the needle would be close to her spinal cord and any sudden movement could cause the epidural not to work, which she did not want, or nerve damage, which she also did not want. Then she noticed that Jake's face was closer to hers as he whispered in her ear telling her that she could not move.

"I know," she replied, resting her forehead against the front of his shoulder. The position she was supposed to maintain was not the most comfortable, especially with a huge uterus keeping you from being able to curl forward effectively so she took the opportunity of his closeness to relieve some of the stress off of her back. "Sorry," she said loud enough for the doctor to hear. She knew what it was like dealing with people who made your job harder by not being able to follow simple directions.

"It's okay," the doctor told her before informing her he just wanted the best outcome of the procedure for her and her baby. "Let's wait for this next contraction to pass," he said and she immediately felt what he was talking about as her uterus again began contracting and she let out a small soft grunt as she squeezed her eyes tight as well as Jake's hands.

She felt a pair of familiar lips press against her temple and she leaned further into him inhaling his familiar scent, as he soothingly reminded her to breath and told her that it would pass in a little bit. It was comforting, not as comforting as taking a hammer to her cell phones, but she figured it was the next best thing. The contraction passed and the doctor confirmed with her that they were ready to continue.

"Hey, you remember that creepy guy that Bob used to bring with him on the boat sometimes," she heard his voice whisper into her ear. She could tell he was smiling, which caused a smile to come to her face also. "That weird, creepy laugh he had," Jake said before mimicking the man's laugh which could only be described as an electrical buzzing followed by something what sounded like a mixture of a chronic smoker with a cold and a cat trying to cough up a hairball. The laugh itself was creepy but the fact that it came at the most awkward times did nothing but add to the amusement of it all. Harold had been the guy's name that would sometimes accompany the boat delivery guy Bob while they had been on the island. She started to laugh but immediately stopped herself, well as best she could, as she realized her laughter was causing her body to shake and there was currently a needle in her back.

"Stop, making me laugh," she told him. He snorted before apologizing. They both managed to stop laughing but the smiles remained on their faces. But a few seconds later Olivia's was gone as she felt a pressure sensation in the center of her back.

"That's it" the doctor informed her, seeing her flinch again. "We're in. Just need you to hold still a little while longer so we can give you the medication and thread the catheter."

She nodded against Jake's shoulder, and heard Anna come back into the room asking what she had missed.

"What did you do with them?" was her response. To which the woman replied they were in her purse currently powered off, the answer which Olivia seemed to accept.

"There, all done," the doctor informed her as he began moving all of his equipment off of the bed so she could lye back down. He gave her instructions on how to use the epidural catheter and assured her he would be around if anything malfunctioned. He also warned her that she would probably want to back off on medications the closer it came to time to push as it often interfered with pushing and caused more women to have to push longer or in worst cases get a Cesarean section.

She lay back down in the bed as she could feel her legs growing heavier and noticed that she didn't feel the next contraction as much. Anna informed them that Abby and Quinn had called and that they were on their way. She had also informed them that she had exchanged some not so nice words with Cyrus and told him to stop calling her phone because she was currently trying to birth a baby, though it probably didn't come off as nicely as she had relayed it to them given the sweet smile that adorned the woman's face as she told them this.

Olivia fought the urge to ask if he had said what he had wanted as she was exhausted and the thought of actually being able to get some rest now that she had her new pain device outweighed those concerns. Jake was about to say something to her but he saw her eyelids fluttering close. Instead he turned to Anna asking her if she wanted to run down to the cafeteria to get some food. He had been hungry for hours but had refused to leave Olivia's side who had been informed that she shouldn't eat until after the baby was born just in case there were any complications that required a c-section. Then she had made it adamantly clear to everyone, the doctors, nurses, Anna and himself and a few people passing by in the hallway too, he was sure, that she did not want to be cut unless her baby's life was in danger. So he had stayed by her side, but now that she was out he would think at least for the next few hours or at least until she need to deliver herself another dose of pain medication, he figured he would take fifteen minutes to run down to the cafeteria grab some food then devour it before she had a chance to wake up and make them feel guilty about eating in front of her while she was unable to eat anything but ice chips.

She had been dozing off and on for the last few hours. This time when she opened her eyes she saw Anna was also asleep, her head resting on the pillow next to Olivia's as she sat in the chair next to Olivia's bed. Then she felt it, the strongest contraction that she had felt yet with a lot of pressure, it caused her to grab the younger woman's forearm. Anna stirred from her sleep, looking at her with a worried expression as she confusedly took in the painful look on Olivia's face. Then she heard Jake's voice from behind her asking if she was okay. She wanted to say no, but she wasn't sure. She had never given birth before so she wasn't sure what she was or wasn't supposed to be feeling, but she could tell something was different than before.

"I don't know," she told him, as she turned on her back to see Abby standing over her with a worried expression. "Can you get the doctor?"

"Yeah, sure," he replied quietly before hurrying from the room.

At this point Anna and Quinn were on their feet as well, as Abby brushed a piece of hair out of her face. She heard Anna say something, which sounded like a question, but honestly her voice was muted as she was focused on breathing through the end of the contraction. She wanted to press the epidural button, but the feeling that she was having felt a lot like the feeling of wanting to push that had been described to her before.

Thankfully, Jake soon returned with a nurse that checked her. "What are you feeling?" the nurse asked as she stuck her hand under the covers.

"Feels like I want to push," Olivia managed before another contraction hit her, this time Jake was the victim of her forearm death grip. She tried to breathe through it but she could also feel herself involuntarily barring down. "Okay, I'm pushing," she stated letting the nurse know that her opinion on rather she should are not was starting to become obsolete.

"Yeah," the nurse said after examining her, "no wonder you feel like you have to push. Let me grab Dr. Allen and we can have ourselves a little girl."

"Oh my gosh, Yes," Anna exclaimed forgetting about the arm she had been nursing. "We're going to have a baby."

Olivia was pretty sure that out of everyone in the room, she was the only one experiencing the joys of childbirth but she refrained from saying anything as she was sure a contraction would come again and take her breath away at any moment.

"Liv are you okay?" Abby asked grabbing the hand that wasn't currently clinging to Jake's. It was clearly a rhetorical question as the other woman didn't give her time to respond. "I'm scared."

Okay, now they were irritating her. "What?" she asked with an unbelievable look on her face. "Why are you scared?"

"Okay," Abby said grabbing Quinn's hand, "we're going to leave now."She pulled Quinn towards the door after seeing the road this was beginning to go down, leaving Anna and Jake behind for support.

Anna tried to retreat with them, afraid of getting her head chewed off too, but Olivia was clinging tightly to her so she got settled in at the bedside and managed to maneuver's Olivia's grip from her forearm to her hand, fighting herself the entire time not to make a smart ass comment.

Soon Dr. Allen entered with the previous nurse and another nurse and another team of two nurses that she assumed were for the baby since they stayed near the tiny bed in the corner, turning on the warming light and preparing it to be inhabited by the tiny being that was definitely trying to make a grand entrance. She asked Olivia if she was ready, to which her body responded for her with another contraction.

Taking that as the go ahead signal, they began breaking apart the bed and pulling out some stirrups that Olivia hadn't even realized were attached to the bed until then.

"Liv don't get mad at me," Anna said quickly, "but I'm scared. I don't think I can handle this."

Olivia looked at her in disbelief. What was there for her to handle? She felt the woman's hand slipping out of her hand and held on tighter. "Stay," she growled as another contraction hit. Anna just nodded and settled into her place next to Olivia's bed for the long haul.

"You need a chair?" the nurse asked Jake. "We've had too many fathers hit the floor. We don't need three patients."

"I don't know," was his distant response. He was pretty sure that he probably wouldn't need a chair, but then again he was pretty sure that he probably would. He had seen blood and guts and brain matter before, but he had never seen anyone give birth and too be honest, he had looked away for the most part during the birthing scenes on the DVDs.

"For good measure," the nurse said pushing the chair behind him, making sure that if he fell he would fall into the chair or at the very least it would break his fall on the way to the floor.

She was about to make an announcement that everyone with her needed to get their shit together or else she was going to kick them out of the room, but before she could say anything Dr. Allen indicated that the monitor was showing another contraction and that she wanted her to push with this one and she would count her through it.

* * *

A/N: Okay one more thing. People have been saying that they can't wait for Fitz to save her, which I don't know that he won't, but what about Fitzgerald during this entire series has pointed to him as the type to actually successfully save or contribute positively to the problem solving. At most he winged some shit that just luckily happened to not make matters worse. Honestly, I could see Mellie saving Liv before I see Fitz successfully saving her. Now don't get me wrong, he's probably going to contribute, but if the man who needs someone there to steadily hold his hands and make decisions for him and is constantly playing the victim that will be the Kansas City Shuffle of Scandal...well actually Fitz turning into a respectable human being would be, but you get my point.

Reviews people!


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Hey sorry guys for the wait but my Olake feels haven't been being stimulated a lot lately lol. This is the new chapter and sorry if it looks weird, my format got mucked in transition and I'm not sure how well I fixed it. And sorry if I go into too much detail around the birth, I used to work on an L&amp;D ward.

* * *

Thirty long minutes later, which if you asked Olivia she would swear it was closer to three hours, Dr. Allen announced and confirmed that the little girl had officially entered the world.

They placed the baby on Olivia's chest and her mouth fell open as she stared wide eyed at the crying newborn. It seemed as if time stopped as she took in the site before her. She barely noticed anyone else in the room and only faintly heard Anna's, "Oh shit you guys. That's a baby." She took in the site of the chalk covered tiny being, two tiny little fists flailing aimlessly. She tentatively reached out a hand to touch one of them and couldn't help the smile that came across her face at finally making contact. She was here. Her little girl was here. Her other hand reached up to pick the baby up, but she was quickly whisked away to the small bed on the other side of the room.

Her mouth opened again to ask the nurse why they were taking her, but Dr. Allen answered her question before she could voice it. "Don't worry. She's fine. They just have to take her temperature, weigh her and all that good stuff and give her a look over to make sure she as perfect as she seems.

She looked back towards the incubator and saw Jake slowly making his way over to the bed, Anna snapping pictures and squealing at realizing the child had "her dimples". She wanted to get up and go over there too, but suddenly it hit her how tired she was and how weak she felt. Her head fell back a little as she rested against the back of the bed.

Oh, Liv she's beautiful," Anna told her clearly able to get a better view of her baby than she could from her place on the bed.

* * *

Her eyes fluttered open and the first thing she registered was the soft sounds of a television. She was in a dimly lit room, a marginally comfortable bed, and she could see the artificial light outside of her window. She blinked a few times and tried to move, but decided against it as she still didn't have all of her strength back yet and she was still a little sore.

She heard an antsy noise followed by a soft shushing and her eyes flickered over towards the corner of the hospital room to find Jake sitting in the lounge chair with a bundle of blankets nestled in his arms as he looked down musing at the contents.

She had stayed awake long enough to feed the baby and to drop her off at the nursery for the pediatrician to examine her more thoroughly before she was wheeled to her new room on the post partum ward. Then she had fallen asleep immediately after climbing into the new bed. She had slept, she didn't know how long, but she figured it to be a while since the sky was actually starting to look a little brighter, or darker. She was honestly so exhausted and had been in such a deep sleep she didn't know if they were coming upon the next day or if she had slept completely through it and they were going into the next night.

She tried to adjust herself again and gave an involuntary groan causing Jake to notice that she was awake.

"Hey," he smiled at her, taking his feet off of the ottoman as he sat up adjusting the baby in his arms. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got hit by a car," she told him stretching her limbs a little. "What day is it?"

He laughed. "Wow, you were really out of it," he told her before telling her it was the seventeenth. She was happy to hear she hadn't slept through the entire next day.

She looked at the chair on the other side of the bed and saw Anna fast asleep. She looked at the clock and saw that it read 5:42am. She actually hadn't been asleep that long, a little under three hours.

"Everyone else went home," he told her. "They wanted to give you a chance to rest. Abby called a few minutes ago and said that she was on her way over. Quinn said she would be by a little later, she's going to help Huck follow up on something before she heads over."

The baby started to fuss again. "I think she's hungry," he told her. "We've been trying to hold her off for a little bit now. The nurse said it was okay to let you sleep a little longer."

He got up and walked over to the bed and handed her the baby. He then hit the call button on the bed calling for the nurse. Olivia again, became enthralled by the baby, as she again began to unwrap her to get a better look at her. She was still amazed at how tiny and a perfect she was. She hadn't even noticed the nurse walk into the room until she touched her to help her adjust the baby in her arms.

He went to set back in the chair giving the nurse her space to work. After Olivia had fallen asleep and the nurse had brought the baby back to the room like Olivia had requested before falling unconscious, he and Anna had spent the time passing the baby back and forth between them. They had received several warnings from the older nurse that they were going to spoil the child but he didn't care. This was the first and possibly only child he would ever have, and he had planned on spoiling her from the moment he found out about her. Luckily for him, Anna had fallen asleep soon after and he no longer had to trade off with her every fifteen minutes as that was the rule she had set up, so that had left him the next hour with the little sweetheart all to himself. He had spent the time just staring at her taking in everything about her. She was tiny, even though the nurses had pointed out she was a fairly decent sized baby at almost eight pounds, and she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. To him, she looked like Olivia. Well she didn't really look like anyone, but he had been able to see some of Olivia's features such as her eyes and lips. Everyone else had insisted she looked like him, even the random strangers at the nursery window. He didn't see it though. And even though she would only open one eye at a time, they seemed to have a hint of gray mingling in their somewhere and he wondered if she would have the same steel blue eyes as his mother and sister. He watched as she fed the baby, now with only minimal assistance from the nurse. He had never seen her this happy, not even on the island. The smile on her face grew wider as she placed a finger in the baby's tiny little hand and she instinctively closed her fingers around it. She was happy, they were happy. This was perfect, but he couldn't get caught up in it. They would have to leave the hospital soon and go back into the real world, but he would enjoy it until then. He would not let the thoughts of the things that were to come, destroy his happiness in the present.

"God, this child is perfect," he heard Olivia say as she gave the baby another once over.

"Yeah," Anna grumbled, before turning over preparing to go back to sleep. Olivia and Jakes head snapped towards her. They didn't even know she was awake. They would have thought that she was talking in her sleep if it weren't for her next statement. "She sort of looks like me."

They both laughed and Anna smiled, before pulling the blanket over her head.

Olivia continued to evaluate the baby, pulling the covers off of her little feet as she felt something heavy at the end of the blanket. "What's this?" she asked examining the silver linked chained more closely.

Jake, who by now had pulled out his computer, glanced over at the object she was referring to before turning back to the glowing screen. "A charm bracelet," he told her. "I put it around her ankle and forgot to take it off. My sister had one of those things and she was obsessed with it," he continued seemingly talking to himself. "You can hold on to it. I'm going to lose it if I keep it any longer."

She continued looking at him waiting for him to explain why he had felt it so important to give their new born daughter a charm bracelet, but he didn't. Her eyes turned back to the baby who had drifted off to sleep again before travelling down to the bracelet that was doubly wrapped but still hung loosely from the infant's right leg. She then noticed that there was one single charm attached to it. She turned the bracelet slightly to get a better look at it. It was a silver heart. Well three hearts, a large one intertwined at each side with a smaller one, all of them bleeding into each other. The largest heart in the middle simply read Adeline in cursive font with the date October 17, 2015 written beneath it. She then looked at the heart to the right of it and saw the letters OCP, immediately recognizing it as her initials. The heart on the left read JAB which she recognized as Jakes initial. She smiled to herself as she rubbed the plated pendant in her hand, and found that there was an indention on the back. She turned it over to see what was on the other side. In simple font, different from the fonts on the front were the words "A Promise". She was almost brought to tears as she remembered the last night she and Jake had spent at her apartment. After they had had sex, they had lay next to each other again going through and adding to the list of things that they had learned to do and not do from their parents and their lives when raising their daughter. It had been a light hearted conversation as they were mainly sharing stories causing them to laugh at one another. Jake had then said that the little girl was not allowed to go into any branch of government or be involved in a job that required her to directly act with any of the major branches of government including the military, to which Olivia had responded he couldn't dictate the child's life. He then responded by bringing his head down to her stomach and placing a kiss there before telling the little girl that she had to promise to stay away from all branches of government. He had then proceeded to make a whole bunch of promises to the child in her stomach the last of which Olivia vividly remembered because it made her cry and set a part of her at ease that she hadn't even known was restless, well not in that type of way anyways. He had promised the little girl that no matter what or who happened that he would always be there for her and mother.

She smiled again and wiped away a couple of stray tears that had fallen unnoticed by anyone else in the room. She then tucked the bracelet back inside of the blankets that were covering her daughter's feet. Those tiny little perfect feet.

* * *

"Give me a second Adeline," she mumbled to herself as she finished up in the bathroom. The child had been crying for the last minute or so, but she was moving a little slower than normal as she was still sore. Abby, Jake, Quinn, and Anna had gone down to the little café across the street from the hospital to pick up breakfast, all of them refusing to eat the hospital food, including her. She didn't know how the food in the cafeteria looked but after they saw the tray that had been delivered to her room this morning they had all declined on exploring the food there any further. She dried her face after splashing some water on it and made her way out of the bathroom. She was stopped in her tracks when she realized that the reason her daughter had stopped crying was because someone was holding her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, becoming more infuriated by the second that he had the audacity to come waltz into the hospital and touch her child without her permission.

"Well I know you didn't think that I was going to not come and see my granddaughter just because her mother's a spoiled brat did you?" he didn't even look up at her as he continued to slightly rock the baby in his arms, a smile on his face. She didn't know that his face could still do that while he wasn't threatening someone, though to be fair, she did feel threatened

Olivia saw red as she stared at her father. "How did you get in here?"

He didn't answer her as he continued to coo at that baby telling her how beautiful she was. When the words "I'm your grandpa," passed his lips, she had had enough.

She stalked over to him, as menacingly as she could and began prying the baby out of his arms. He didn't put up much of a fight, and she figured it was due to the fact that he didn't want to bring harm to the baby.

"You know she looks just like you when you when you were a baby," he told her, ignoring her clear anger at him being there.

"You need to leave," she spat at him, cuddling the child to her chest who was beginning to fuss a little."I remember that like it was yesterday," he ignored her, a distant look on his face as he reminisced. "When your mother and I took you home from the hospital. Who would have thought that we'd end up here?"

She just glared at him, repulsed by the fact that he had even dared to say that out loud when he had been the one to make the choice of starting a family and bringing a child into his life when he knew he was a part of B6-13. At least Huck had had the decency to leave so his son could have a chance at a normal life.

"You know I made her a promise too," he stated, finally taking his eyes from the child and looking at Olivia. "I meant what I said. I will not let you drag this precious child down this repugnant path that you have chosen for yourself. Do you understand me Olivia?" he asked leaning in closer to her. "I will not allow it."

They stared each other down a few more seconds and soon the baby started to cry, the emotional tension in the room finally getting to her. With that he turned on his heals and left, just as quietly as he had come.

"She finally let out a breath that she had been holding as she began trying to console the baby in her arms. "Shh, it's okay," she whispered as the tears started to fall from her eyes. "It's okay, Mommy's here."

She looked back at the door as the child started to settle down some. Wondering if the alarm system she had had Huck place on the windows of the nursery would be enough. Something told her it was all for nil either way. But if her father ever tried to take her child, it would be over her dead body, and a few others' too.

A/N: hope you like. Reviews are welcomed.

Sigh... I was supposed to post this hours ago. But I'm still awake, smh.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Okay, sorry it took so long to update but my Jalivia feels have been neglected lately by the show so I haven't been motivated. I've decided to start calling them this because it's more fun and less associated with Olitz lol. But my feels are starting to get watered and weeded again so, I decided to update. I may be ending this one soon so I can start on the sequel since I think breaking and starting a separate sequel would help me to better progress the story the way I want to, or I might just do it all under this one I haven't decided yet. But anyways next chapter. I'll fix the mistake later.

* * *

They both sat on the couch, watching the same news story, but with extremely different reactions. She was deeply interested and genuinely concerned. He was also deeply interested and genuinely entertained. He always got a kick out of politics. All these rich, smart, dumbasses, thinking that they are too big and too powerful to get caught doing some of the dumbest things imaginable to man. Not that what they were doing was the dumb part, although they were the ones taking a risk that outweighed the benefits given their powerful positions. The way that they tried to go about it was the dumb part. You would never guess that half of these people studied at the top universities around the world.

"Huh," he said somewhat thoughtfully. "That's why your phone's been ringing nonstop."

He smiled. She maintained her frown as she turned to him. "It's not funny," she told him.

He chuckled, "Oh, it's funny."

They were watching the news story about how some of the most well-known senators, representatives, and ambassadors of the great United States of America had recently been found to be caught up in an international prostitution ring. Meaning they could get their fix here, or overseas on business. Most of them, unsurprisingly, had been strongly endorsed by the sitting president during the last election.

He laughed out loud when the anchor woman said, in a seemingly disgusted voice, about how one of the older senators liked to be spanked, spoon-fed pureed foods, and cry like a baby after any sexual act. He was still laughing, and he was pretty sure he hadn't taken a good breath in the last minute.

"Jake," she said swatting him with the diaper rag that had been lying on the couch. "It's not funny."

She glared at him, which only caused him to laugh harder. "I'm going to be the one everyone looks too to clean this up."

This caused him to stop laughing. He looked at her, his mood more serious now. "So you're thinking about going back early?" he questioned, it had only been a week since she had had the baby. Only six days since they had been home with her, and here Washington was, in the middle of another scandal. She pulled her shirt down as she finished feeding Adeline, who had by now fallen back to sleep, which wasn't surprising. She wiped the trail of milk dribbling down the baby's chin and smiled as she took a moment to admire her daughter, momentarily forgetting about the news story that streamed through her television.

"Aw," Jake said sounding more like an 'ugh', bringing her back to the real world as there was a mention of bestiality. Her phone vibrated again. She had set it to silence hours ago.

"Definitely not thinking about going back early," she told him.

They continued to watch the news story, her cuddling the baby close as she slept.

"You know nurse Nancy, would yell at you for holding her while she's asleep," he said making Olivia smile at the numerous older nurses that had warned them about spoiling the child. Their warning had been well heeded, but they just couldn't stop themselves. And so far, thankfully, it didn't seem that her baby had the genetic gene that made her more prone to getting 'spoiled' than the average baby. She only cried when she was hungry, needed changing, or was uncomfortable for some reason. She occasionally seemed to cry because she wanted attention, but that wasn't very often.

She was about to reply but turned towards the door as she heard someone fumbling with the lock. Jake too had turned towards the doorway. She had figured it to be Anna, but it seemed that the person was actually having a bit of trouble with the lock, though she could hear the keys jingling. She also heard a frustrated 'fuck'. A few seconds later, the door swung open and Anna stumbled in. Olivia's eyebrows furrowed in concern, Jake's in peaked interest.

Anna was dressed in a short black dress, with tights, which wasn't unusual. However the fact that she had on sunglasses when it was dark out and a short black wig, a faux fur thrown over her shoulders. Now that meant something was up and Olivia's saw red flags flying from all directions.

The woman stumbled, slightly drunkard like in her stilettos, seeming to only notice them once she had closed the door and regained her balance. She just looked at them for a few seconds.

"'Sup," she said nodding her head towards them.

"Hey," Olivia said, unsureness to her tone, while Jake only returned Anna's gesture. He knew Anna was drunk, he also knew that in grand Anna fashion she was taking it a step or two beyond the normal person's response to whatever she was responding too, but that was okay. He was growing to love her for it.

The woman's eyes then flickered down to the infant in Olivia's arm. "Damn, that kid gets cuter every time I see her." She then flicked her wig and proceeded to strut to the kitchen in a more orderly fashion than which she had entered the apartment, mumbling something that sounded similar to, "I want one." They followed with their eyes until she disappeared into the kitchen.

"What do you think happened?" he asked her. He was slightly concerned, he had actually never seen Anna this far off the wall. Though he wouldn't have been surprised if it was nothing more than her friend decided to not take a suggestion she made to a dance, though he had an inkling it was a little more than that.

"I don't know," Olivia said still looking at the kitchen door. She gathered the baby up and handed her to Jake as she unfolded her legs from under her. He took his daughter without question allowing Olivia to get up and go see about the drunken woman currently fumbling around in the kitchen.

Olivia rounded the corner to her kitchen slowly, unsure of what she would find and not wanting to scare the wild woman that lurked within. As she made her way into the kitchen, she noticed the clinking of objects had stopped as the woman had found a wine glass and had managed to open one of her best bottles, and was currently pouring it into the glass. There had better be a good reason for this. That was her second to last bottle of Du Bellay.

"Anna?" she called softly, trying not to startle the woman, but seemingly doing just that as her head snapped up. She just stared at her weirdly for a minute, as Olivia could not see her eyes through the sun glasses.

"Heey, girl," Anna said as she finished pouring her wine glass. "Want some?"

Olivia eyed the bottle. She did want some, and finally she could partake again in the drinking of her wine collection. She had just feed her baby and she had pumped enough to last her through the middle of the next day, but still she declined until she could find out what she was up against.

"No thanks," she said as she slowly approached the island counter. "How about you? What's going on with you?"

The woman tipped the wine glass slightly, her head tipping the opposite direction as her response before she bought the glass to her mouth and took a sip. Olivia deposited herself on the stool across from her.

"You wanna talk about it?"

"Nope," was Anna's reply. "I want you to drink with me."

Olivia shrugged, "Fine, I'll have one drink, but you have to talk." She picked up the bottle and began to pour some of the contents into the empty glass.

"There is nothing to talk about, I told you," Anna replied.

"Then why are you dressed like a street walker?"

"Came from dress rehearsal," was her simple reply. "And that is so judgmental by the way."

"So you were drinking at dress rehearsal?" Olivia questioned skeptically. She knew Anna was two professional and took her job too seriously for that.

"No," Anna corrected, "I went drinking after."

Olivia nodded. "Did something happen at dress rehearsal to upset you?"

"What is this Liv? Twenty-one questions?"

"Anna," Olivia's voice became more sincere as she caught the woman's eyes through the dark glasses, "what happened?" She hated to see the woman like this, she absolutely hated it. This is why they stayed their distance from each other, when one flailed; the other usually did to some extent to. Their wagons where hitched to each other's. When one went over the cliff the other one was dragged alone, clinging helplessly to the ledge trying to pull them both back to safety. This was part of the reason they avoided each other, to save each other. She couldn't afford to flail right now, not any more than she was anyway. This was what she had been afraid of when she has invited Anna to D.C. She really hoped that Anna was being dramatic and that this was no big deal.

Anna just stared at her, the glass lingering in the air as she was going to put it to her mouth. She knew what was happening, she could see the growing fear and desperation in Olivia's eyes. But this wasn't her goal, to cause chaos in the woman's life. She wanted Olivia to have her shit as together as she could have it so she could focus on her baby, because she had seen Olivia when her shit wasn't together. After a second thought, she sat the glass down and starting going through the large bag she had brought in with her. She then sat the phone on the counter between her and Olivia.

"Text messages from Him," she told her, as she brought the glass back up to her lips.

Olivia picked up the phone, and immediately went to the text messages. She saw a name that said Him and clicked on it as she began going through the text conversation between the two of them. It didn't take long before she realized that this was an old friend of Anna's, a friend that seemed to know her well as they talked about some deep stuff. He seemed nice, and she had even seen a picture of him with some of their shared friends from someone's birthday party. He was handsome, and well dressed, and seemed to be a business guy as he often texted her telling her that he had to go somewhere for work. From the names and companies he mentioned he seemed to be very successful, and he seemed to care for Anna a lot, then the messages changed from 'hey bestie, how's it going?' to 'why'd you leave me?'

She looked up briefly at the woman, wanting to ask her exactly what was the reason she had so eagerly left LA when she had called her. But she declined seeing the woman pouring her second glass of wine. She did however take the time to tip the bottle back in the opposite direction letting the woman know her glass was full enough. She really didn't need anymore. She then went back to the text messages. They altered between hope you are enjoying your life then back to I want you hear, I need you. He had seriously told her that in those exact words. Olivia almost felt her heart breaking for the guy, but she wouldn't pity him just yet. Maybe Anna actually a good reason. She finally made it to texts from today. He had found someone, someone he liked. But he was coming to D.C. soon for business and he had wanted to see her, to possibly give it one more try before he committed to this other person or just to see her, for her to be sure.

"Anna," she started, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"I got it," the woman responded seeing her health.

She watched as Anna exited the kitchen, making her way to the front door. Olivia followed.

She heard Anna and Abby exchange greetings as she rounded the corner into her entry way. She fold her arms and eyed Anna disappointedly as she had found a way to slip through her questioning sessions. "Hey, Liv. Hey, Baby." Abby said not giving her a chance to respond before she was making her way over to the couch where Jake was currently holding the sleeping baby.

"You wake her up, you're taking her home with you," Jake joked as he allowed Abbie to snatch the baby up from his arms. Abby's only response was to begin cooing to the sleeping child telling her how she would love to take her home.

"Where've you been?" she said turning to Olivia again as she cradled the sleeping child against her chest. "Cyrus has been trying to reach you all day."

"I know," she replied taking her original seat on the sofa. "I've been avoiding his calls."

"You know he's just going to come over here," Abby told her.

"You guys are boring me," Anna said as she got up and went back into the kitchen.

Abby proceed to fill Olivia in on the goings on around the white house. Before long there was another knock at the door. Olivia didn't bother getting up since she heard Anna making her way back towards the door. She was about to ask the woman who was at the door when she walked back into the room but it seems whoever it was was still out there since they knocked again.

"Why didn't you get the door?" Olivia asked her as she got up to get it.

"Pshh, I don't live here," was the woman's response.

Olivia rolled her eyes, wondering who could be at the door. Anna had no problem answering her door, phone, or butting in to whatever she could, so she was really starting to wonder who was on the other side of the door because she was sure Anna knew and decided just not to open it.

She opened the peep hole and gasped when she saw him standing on the other side. She could also see the secret service agents lining her hallway. He knocked again.

"You getting the door?" she heard Jake yell to her.

She decided to open it to keep him from knocking again. She undid the latch and swung the door open. "What are you doing here?"

He opened his mouth to speak but only smirked at her, surprised by her greeting. "Well that's no way to greet your guests."

"What do you want Fitz?" she asked him. She couldn't hide it. She was a little upset with him popping up like this. It annoyed her before but he would quickly say or do something to make her forget how much that it bothered her that he'd just pop up all the time without warning, but things were different now. She had a child, and he knew that it was a complicated situation. She wanted to deal with it in her own way and she was not yet ready to introduce him into her daughter's life, even though the baby had no idea what was happening, he still should have respected her wishes about the matter.

"I've been calling you all day," he told her a little more humbly, trying to gain his way back into her good graces so he could get what he wanted.

"I told you," she started, "I'm not back yet."

"When will you be back?"

"I don't know. I'll let you know when I do," she told him in a stern voice.

He just stared at her as if he was hurt by how harsh she was being with him. She looked away.

"Can I come in?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Fitz, you know why," she told him, looking back up at him.

He paused again, letting the silence once again fill the space between them. He was trying to decide which angle would be best for him to take.

"I missed you," he told her sounding sad child. "I know, it's been a week," he started trying to find the words he wanted. "I wanted to see you. I wanted to see her."

"Fitz," she started, not sure if she was about to yell at him or beg him to leave.

"Liv who's at the door?" she heard Jake's voice growing nearer from behind her. She dropped her head, knowing it was a little futile now trying to avoid what she didn't want to happen all along. Sure she could just slam the door in Fitz's face and tell Jake that it was just a salesman or a neighbor coming to borrow a cup of sugar, but that would have been a little hard to do seeing that Fitz had strategically placed himself with one foot inside of her apartment.

She looked at him, cursing him inwardly as she felt Jake appear behind her. He should have just respected her wishes. She looked back at Fitz to see that he had found the answer to his question as he just stared at Fitz. Fitz eyes followed hers as the two men engaged in what an outsider would consider a childish stare off, but an outsider did not understand the animosity that had grown between these two men.

"Jake," Fitz was the first to speak in a rather smug tone, "haven't seen you in a while. How's fatherhood treating you."

"Oh, it's great," Jake fired back just as smugly, "you should try it."

This was when Olivia saw Abby peak her head out from behind Jake, her eyes quickly darting to her friend, quietly asking if she should try to intervene.

Before Olivia could say anything, Fitz answered back smugly, "Maybe I will."

With all implications of that obviously recognized by everyone in the room, Olivia just scoffed silently, bringing her fingers up and pinching the bridge of her nose. Jake's head tilted, taking it as an immediate challenge.

"Okay," Abby said, grabbing Jake's arm as she felt him shift a little towards Fitz. She wanted to stop his momentum before it was too late. "Weren't we going to go get that onesie for Adeline." She felt Jake stiffen and she looked at Olivia, who was still looking down at the floor.

"Com'on," she said pulling Jake back down the hall. "That's it" she said as if coaching a child down from a tantrum, only she knew there would be nothing child like about this.

Jake allowed himself to be pulled down the hall, figuring it would not be in his child's best interest to have her father rough up a few secret service agents while she was only a few feet away because he could already see the suited men ready to fight Fitz's battle for him.

Olivia sighed a sigh of relief as she watched the two of them disappear down the hall.

"So how have you been?" Fitz asked as if that just hadn't happened.

"What?" she turned to face him in disbelief. He had come to her house uninvited and unannounced and now he was taunting Jake, using her infant daughter as bait.

"I asked how," he tried but she cut him off.

"No, I heard you," she told him. "I just can't believe…," she stopped trying to calm herself. "You need to leave."

"Liv, I just wanted to see you. You haven't answered your phone since you went into the hospital."

"There is a reason for that," she yelled at him. "And you need to leave."

"Liv," he was not moving.

"Now," she yelled again cutting him off and sending him a look that let him know she meant business.

He took a step back and paused before completely stepping out of her door way. "I'm sorry, I," he tried again.

"Goodbye," she said talking over him, "Fitz."

He stepped completely out of the doorway, allowing her to close the door in his face. She locked the door back and took a deep breath blowing it out hard. She stood there for a minute trying to recollect herself.

"Hey," Abbie said walking back into the foyer with a lilac footed onesie. "She spit up on herself."

Olivia only nodded, then realizing she didn't see Jake materializing from the hallway, "Where is he?"

"Had to take a call," she replied walking back into the living room. Olivia followed.

She found Anna cuddling her baby with one arm while she held up a glass of wine in the other hand as she sung to the baby, which sounded like a song about the different types of boys, the current verse being about stupid boys.

"That could have gone worse," Abby said.

Olivia just grabbed her glass of wine before grabbing the remote and changing the channel to something that wasn't work related.

"Yes it could have," Anna said joining in their conversation but still singing the words to the baby. "Because people here are crazy and that's why Auntie Anna is leaving this shit hole behind." Olivia and Abbie's head turned towards the woman as she continued to sing to the child who was still looking up at her intently. "Oops, but she can't say shit because that's not a nice word to say in front of the baby."

Olivia looked at the woman, waiting for her to further explain herself, but of course she wouldn't as she went along singing back to her song about boys, this verse being about needy boys.

"Anna," Olivia called to the woman, finally causing her to stop singing and look her way. "You're leaving?"

* * *

Hope you like. Leave reviews and let me know what you think.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: Sooo, fun fact. My favorite girl name is Olivia and Isabella, ha I know right. But anyways, I initially had trouble choosing the name I wanted for the baby in this fic and I was going to go with Isabella mostly because I wanted to call her Bella. But anyways, I didn't know at the time that Kerry's daughter's name was Isabelle, but something told me to look it up and I did. Then I was like well I don't want to name her something so close to her real life daughter's name just because I really do like to respect celebrities' privacy. But then I was like I really like this name and I was like whatever, there aren't enough people out there that are crazy enough to mix up reality and fiction that are going to come a cross my fic. Boy was I wrong, because then I discovered Terry. Not saying that they would read my fic because they are some extreme Jake haters but still more crazies than I would have imagined. And all I can say is, crazy people do not know that they are crazy...anyways, enjoy this chapter.

* * *

"Jake," she said drowsily as she swatted his side of the bed. She came into contact with something and she could hear him take in a sharp breath of air. "Get up. It's your turn." She said referring to her daughter's cries. Normally she would think that the little hiccups the baby incorporated into her wails was just heart breakingly adorable because everything that kid did flooded her heart with feelings she had never felt before, unless it was two thirty in the morning and she was exhausted from having gone through this routine every night for the past two weeks.

"Can you spot me," he said turning over, not opening his eyes. "I'll owe you one"

She furrowed her brows but didn't even bother to open her eyes. She wanted to be angry but she was too tired, and she figured that he had to be border line delirious to let those words come out of his mouth especially with her being as exhausted as she was. "Jake," she started off slowly, "if I get out of this bed, right now, you never will again."

"Alright," he told her with a small smile on his face. He rolled out of bed without hesitation. He actually didn't mind taking care of his order, he loved taking care of the little girl and helping Liv because it was clear that she still got the brunt of the work no matter how much he tried to help. Sure he would prefer to sleep through the night, but he could sleep later. Probably when she became a teenager and was more interested in hanging out with her friends than being cuddled by her parents, but for now he was going to enjoy every minute of it.

He clicked on the light next to the bassinet and reached in to pick the baby up. That was when he realized that she was in dire need of a diaper change. However, it wasn't until he placed her on the changing table and undid the onesie that he realized the extent.

"Oh my god," she heard him say, but responded slowly since she had almost fallen back a sleep. "Oh my god. It's everywhere."

She turned her head and looked over towards him, her eyes blinking rapidly as she struggled to keep them open. "What's everywhere?"

"Poop," he told her as he tried to figure out the best way of going about this to prevent getting it all over everything and putting more time between himself and climbing back into the bed. "What did you eat?" He asked the baby who responded by stretching her hands above her head and kicking one of her legs out. "It's going to get all over everything."

This prompted Olivia to climb out of bed. "It can't be that bad." She began walking over to him.

"It's worse," he told her.

She walked over to the changing table, just as he was about to slide the diaper from under the baby.

"No, just," she told him, after realizing that it was pretty bad. Not as bad as he made it out to be, but still. "Here," she said as she lifted the child and proceed to carry her into the bathroom, he followed.

It wasn't until that had thoroughly cleaned the child that they returned back to the bedroom, the baby seemingly settling down to fall asleep again. Olivia went over to get a new diaper as Jake cradled the child to his chest, still wrapped in a thin bath towel.

She had her back turned to them when she heard the infamous phrase, "Oh my god, Liv, she's peeing." She whipped around to see a wet spot on Jake's shirt and liquid soaking into the towel threatening to start dribbling on the floor.

"Don't get it all over everything," she told him.

"Well," he tried to say that he didn't know what else to do, but he figured what the hell. His shirt was already wet so he just cradled his daughter back to his chest.

She opened her mouth to respond but just ended up laughing. They were a little bad at this. They were two of the most highly functioning adults that she knew, but they were getting owned by the eight pound being. He smiled at her letting her know that he was glad she was amused that he was getting peed on.

"Here let me," she tried reaching out the diaper to him.

"Nope, still peeing," he said as he could feel the wet spot continuing spread on his shirt. This caused Olivia to laughing again, which in turn caused him to laugh a little. They were both exhausted, so there was honestly nothing else to do but to laugh about it. The only other option was feeling sorry for themselves or getting angry, and neither of them identified well with the victim role and they loved their little girl too much to be angry at having the privilege of taking care of her.

"Okay I think she's finish," he said, and as if on que, Adeline let out a sigh and snuggled against him. She was asleep.

"Nice kid," he said before placing a kiss on the top of her head and placing her on the changing table, allowing Olivia to take his place before walking away to go and clean himself up. When he came back into the room, they were both once again, sound asleep. He thought he had climbed under the covers but when he woke again, he found that he was on top of the covers lying horizontally, his head resting on Olivia's feet. She had wanted to wake up and tell him to actually get into bed and get off of her feet because it made her feel restricted, but she didn't want to waste the few precious seconds of sleep that it would take to do that. So she just fell back asleep.

* * *

She closed the door behind her and leaned her back against it and took a deep breath. It was her first day back to work, and she had been for lack of a better word forced back into it. That actually may have been a good thing. Adeline was now two months old and she was supposed to have gone back to work two weeks prior but she just couldn't tear herself away from her baby, so she had pushed it back a week, then another. She had tried to push it back a third week but it had come out that William St. Germaine, one of the biggest contributors to Fitz's campaign and good friend of Harris Doyle, had dealt in some unusually shady business in order to get his company in the position that it was now in and therefore his estates was built on unusually dirty money which ultimately shaded Fitz's campaign and of course his presidency. She had been able to stop the snitch right before the press conference, but there was still a lot to work out and the man was still threatening to go to the press with the information he had and he was smart, he had actually set up a way to ensure that if he was killed the information would still leak, they were still trying to figure that part out too. Honestly sometimes she just wanted to go up to the podium and inform everyone that yes, American politics is as dirty as they think it is and all of the conspiracy theories that had been concocted could not possibly compete with the actual reality that ran this country. Because again, she could not think of one of the top companies in the country that didn't have some secret that would completely unravel the moral integrity of the company and everyone associated with it.

She put her bag down on the table next to the front door and took her coat off folding it over her arm. She walked into the living room and smiled at the sight she saw on her couch. There was her little girl sound asleep, with her increasingly chubby little legs tucked under her, her diaper clad bottom in the air, and drooling on her father's bare chest as she was using him as her bed. The man himself was too asleep, his right hand wrapped securely around her, his left outstretched with the remote hanging loosely from his fingers, and the television currently going over the highlights of the day's sports games.

She placed her coat on the back of the chair and approached them. She took the remote from Jake's hand and turned the television off, waking him as she knelt beside the couch. She immediately reached out a hand to place on the baby's back.

"Hey," Jake said in huskily as he tried to clear the sleep from his voice.

"Hey," she told him as she slid off her shoes then proceeded to lift the baby from his chest.

"How'd it go?"

"It went…," she paused for a second as she sat down on the floor and tucked the baby to her chest, "okay."

"Okay?" He questioned. "So does that mean he did or didn't murder someone?"

She just flipped her hair and looked at him. "I don't want to talk about that," she said looking down at the baby as she resettled against her chest. "What'd you guys do today?"

"Aww you know," he told her deciding to let her evade the question about her work, "we just stayed in, watched a few movies, had a few beers." She gave him a look and he smiled.

This had actually been a debate that he had had. She had told him that maybe he shouldn't drink when he had Adeline alone. He had countered by asking her if that meant that she wouldn't have wine when she had her alone. It had ultimately culminated with them deciding that they trusted each other enough to allow the other to use his own discretion when placed in the situation.

"Anna on her way to New York?" he questioned her.

"Yeah," she replied bringing the baby's little fist up to her lips and kissing it.

"Think she's gonna be back anytime soon?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "But I think she'll be back. She's still paying rent at my old place."

"Something tells me that's not the kind of thing that would keep her tied to a place," he replied.

Olivia didn't answer, she just snuggled Adeline closer. They stayed there for a few more moments just recounting bits and pieces of their day. Her telling him about the craziness that was the city they lived in and him telling her about the adorable new things that their daughter had done. That was before he sat up and stated that he was going to take a shower to get all of the baby drool off of him. He heard her laugh.

He smiled, "That's not what she's doing Liv." He knew she was laughing about the fact that she had told him that Adeline was marking him, since he seemed to be the one who got treated to most of her baby fluids. The most her mother ever got was spit up and a little drool, granted it was on some of her better cardigans and silk tops which had caused Olivia to tone down her fashion a bit at home. But Jake got it all urine, drool, spit up, poop at one point. "I need to go meet someone."

"It's nine o'clock at night," she told him. She wouldn't lie, she didn't like him working but that was only because he always seemed to have to go to work in the dead of night, when other people who had normal jobs that wouldn't get them killed or abducted were finally settling in for the night, he was just getting his 'work day' started. He was also being secretive with whatever it was so that made her even more suspicious. She watched him disappear down the hall and got up to follow him after he didn't answer her. As she went to go behind him she heard a phone ringing from somewhere near the couch. She huffed before turning back to the living room to answer the phone. She looked on the side table at her phone and realized that it wasn't hers. She figured it was his and it sounded like it was coming from somewhere inside of the couch so she started digging between the cushions until she came up with the object. She looked at the phone, it wasn't his cell phone. She answered it anyway.

"Hello," she stated, and caught herself before announcing who she was as she would normally do.

"Ughh, you're not Jake," a man on the other side of the phone stated with a rough tone and a bit of a southern twinge.

"No," she told him, becoming a little upset after realizing that it was in fact Jake's phone, only she had never seen this phone before. "Who is this?"

The man sensed her no nonsense demeanor through her tone and let out a chuckle. "You must be Olivia."

Her brows furrowed.

"How do you know Jake?" she asked the man.

"I've known him since he was just a little knuckle headed kid, when he first got into the Navy," the man told her. "He told me you were an inquisitive one."

"Really?" she asked him as she sat on the couched and laid Adeline against her chest stroking the baby's back and preparing to slip into investigator mode. "What else did he tell you?"

"Whoa, now I don't go meddling in other folk's personal business," the man laughed. Olivia stayed quiet and the man's laughter died down. "You ain't gonna put him on the phone are ya?"

"Not until you tell me why you're calling," she confirmed. She looked down and saw that Adeline's eyes were now open and staring up at her.

"Well I would love to, but he told me not to tell ya, Darling," he told her. Normally she would want to punch someone in the face for calling her Darling or Sweetheart or anything related to it, but this man seemed to have a certain tone behind it that made her feel like he wasn't trying to demean her. It could have been part his southern drawl, but it wasn't like Harris Doyle's who seemed to use the sentiments threateningly. This man seemed like he was pleading with her not to use her powers on him. He seemed like the type of man that taught his daughters and granddaughters how to fight and shoot just so they can beat any man's ass who tried to undermine them.

"Liv," she heard from behind her causing her to turn instinctively giving Jake a clear view of the secret phone in her hand. He just stared at her before nodding to the phone. "Who is that?"

"I don't know," she told him. "Who are you?" The man told her his name. "It's Max."

Again he just stared at her for a moment knowing he was in for an argument. "Give me the phone," he said as she stood up prepared to argue with him. Adeline was still safely secured in one arm.

"Is this who you were going to meet?" she asked him.

"Liv, give me the phone," he repeated.

"Why won't you tell me what's going on?" she yelled at him.

"Why," he started a little bit too loudly causing Adeline to jump, but thankfully she didn't start crying. They both noticed and started whispering harshly. "Why do you wanna know?"

"Because maybe I can help you," she told him.

"Maybe I don't want your help," he told her you, causing her to narrow her eyes as if she had just grown a shade angrier, "you ever thought of that?"

"Well you should, seeing as how you just left your super-secret spy phone on the couch for the one person who you didn't want to know about it to find," she told him causing his brow to furrow as she was mocking his old profession which they both knew was nothing to be mocked. She then held the phone further away to make sure the Max guy couldn't her. "Does this have anything to do with B6-13?"

"Why do you want to help so badly?" he questioned her still whispering. Usually they respected each other's work boundaries a little better than this.

"Because," she told him leaning into him a little more, "I don't want to have to explain to our daughter why her father isn't around and why I have to fly to a different part of the country every few years to collect another part of your body." She then threw the phone at his chest. He barely caught it. She then drew the baby closer to her chest and stalked down the hallway.

He shook his head before placing the phone to his ear. "Max?"

The older man started laughing immediately. "Ooowee," he said causing Jake to smile as it was clear the man had come straight from a Texas ranch. "You didn't lie boy. You finally met your match," the man continued laughing.

"How's it going Max? We still good for tonight?"

* * *

She walked into the living room her daughter cradled to her chest as there was another loud crack of thunder that rolled through the silence of the night. Which she figured was what had woke the child as she was sleeping better at night, and by better she meant about a five hour stretch. She let out a sigh as she sat on the couch and propped her knees up, settling the baby there so they were face to face. Jake still wasn't back and she had to admit she was starting to get a little worried. She began talking to the girl, telling her how she had missed her and how she much preferred to stay home with her than to go to work. Adeline smiled at her, something she had only started doing a couple of weeks ago. This caused Olivia's smile to widen.

"You are perfect baby," she told her. "And don't let anyone tell you that you're not." She offered the baby her finger and she took it. "And you are going to do great things. You may even rule the world one day, but only if you choose to because believe it or not there are actually more things to aspire to than running the world. Especially Mommy's world." Her mood became more somber as she thought back to all of the dark moments and the dark places her mind would immediately take her during the moments when she wished she was actually more human and the things that the people she had surrounded herself with had done and had become comfortable with. Like the time when she had that small ping of excitement for a split second when Jerry had died as she knew that meant that they would win the campaign. She was immediately overcome by sadness and grief, but that excitement that lasted less than a second still haunted her. She had voiced this to one of her friends and he had voiced back to her that he had almost let a church full of people get killed to achieve the same outcome that jerry had been murdered for. She sniffed back some tears as she heard the first rain drops begin to tap against her window. "No baby, Mommy's world isn't worth ruling. No matter how much I make it seem like it is, I want you to remember that. But you are going to be great, and happy, and loved, Bug. No matter what, remember that you are loved."

At this the baby let out a hearty coo, letting her mother know that she was glad for the effort of communication and that she wanted to take part. This caused Olivia to laugh, "That's right sweet girl." She continued talking to her daughter but tried to stay clear of the darker conversations. And the baby continued to coo in response.

It wasn't long before she heard someone at the door, soon after Jake walked into the living room, slightly damp due to rain that was gradually starting fall harder. He made eye contact with her when he first entered but then she avoided eye contact with him as she continued to play with the Adeline.

"Hey," he said, causing the baby's attention to shift as she briefly turned her head to the side where she had heard the voice. She quickly then turned back to her mother after not hearing her father's voice anymore.

"Hey," she replied still not looking at him.

"The rain wake her?"

"Yeah," she told him. He stared at her a little longer.

"You still mad at me?" She didn't answer.

He sighed and took off his jacket. Something was different between them that was for sure. It had been there ever since Adeline had been born but it was starting to become more blatantly obvious. Their boundaries had shifted, they had been blurred. It was no longer two separate people choosing to share parts of their lives with each other, it was more like the hearts he had given the baby, their lives intertwined now in places they never had before. And it seemed that Olivia had picked up on that before him.

"I don't understand why you can't at least just let me know what's going on," she told him. "Maybe I can help, or at the very least," she paused and swallowed thickly, "know where to start looking if you go missing again."

She turned back to the baby and picked her up from her lap placing a kiss on the side of her face and walking towards the hallway. He took a deep breath and blew it out. Okay, it wasn't often that Olivia made him feel like a jerk but since he had been released from supermax it had seemed to be happening more frequently. He figured it was partly due to the fact that he was still trying to figure out how to be a father to Adeline and a supportive partner of Olivia's without getting too close to her. That was a blurred line to begin with, throw in the fact that he was in love with her and that just made it ten times harder.

He followed her down the hall and into the nursery. He stopped at the door and watched as she laid the baby back down in her crib and tried to get her to settle down a little.

"Okay," he said causing her to look up at him.

She took a moment before nodding and replying with her own, "Okay." She then turned on the monitor taking the receiver with her and they both went back into the living room so they could talk.

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A/N: Insomnia...sigh. Anyways, hope you enjoyed leave a **review.**


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: So question, why are certain people upset about Shonda Rhimes "making Fitz into an asshole"? It's not like he was an individually existing person that she just came along and started controlling, manipulating and blackmailing to make him become an asshole. He is a fictional character that she conceived and he is what she wants him to be and therefore if you perceive him as an asshole, it's probably because he really is an asshole. This has always been Shonda's character, she didn't take this show and character over from someone else. Maybe it just means she's doing a really good job, since a lot of assholes are really good at hiding their assholishness until you are invested/tied up in them. The character of Fitz belongs to Shonda, the show Scandal belongs to her, therefore he is literally what she portrays him as. If in the finale he is revealed as a secret killer clown that used to be in the Ringling Brother's Circus, guess what, that means that's what he has always been whether you knew it or not. Accept it or write fanfiction and borrow the character and make him what you want him to be. I for one have a problem with combining the Olivia when she's with Fitz with the Olivia at any other time in my head as well. I just don't believe that one person could be that head strong and determined yet still fall for a trap that she knows isn't doing her not one bit of good. Do I complain that she is taking Olivia out of her character and making her look like a dumbass for still being affiliated with Fitz, No. Because even though I feel that way, I can never say that she is making Olivia into something that she is not because my mind did not give birth to that character, Shonda's did, and even though I can't seem to merge the two different Olivia's in my mind successfully I know that both of them are a part of the character that Shonda meant to portray and that in fictional land, head strong Olivia and foolhearted Olivia are one in the same. So again, if you perceive Fitz to be an asshole, that's because he is and if you don't like the way he is being written, that means you just need to come to terms with the fact that you don't like that character because whatever you don't like about the way he is being written is the essence of his little fictional self at his core.

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"Hey Liv," Quinn said before immediately gasping. "Hey Baby." She immediately began moving to take the child from Olivia's arms as Adeline began smiling and kicking at seeing the grinning woman.

She hadn't really wanted to bring Adeline to the office with her, she really hadn't, but she had had no other choice. She had needed to come in and she had made the mistake of thinking that Jake would not be working during the day. The other option was to leave the baby with her next door neighbor for a few hours but the woman was out. Jake had offered to take her with him but she had declined, especially after he had updated her on the project he had been working on, freeing himself from B6-13 permanently. She had asked him how exactly he had planned on going about doing it and he had told her about the group of agents retired and still active that shared the same wishes as him. She had asked him what about their plan to take down B6-13, he had told her to let him know when they came up with something. He as well as his friends would be glad to help.

So Adeline was now at the office with her. She would lock the front office door behind her, just in case there was any surprise clients today, they would have to knock. That was the best she could do to shield her baby from her hazardous work environment for the time being. She left Adeline with Huck and went back down to her car to get the pack and play and travel crib as well as some other things she had brought in with her to keep the child entertained and not crying.

She had been there about an hour and half when she heard the first knock of the day. She had assumed it was Quinn since she had stepped out to go follow up a lead. Her pacing slowed considerably when she saw that the figure standing on the other side of the door was actually taller than the person she expected and that it was definitely a man. She could also see some other figures looming near-by. Her brows furrowed for a second before realization hit her. She took in a deep breath, preparing herself before opening the door.

He just stood there, looking at her. She rolled her eyes and looked off to the side before turning back to him.

"I thought you would let me know when you were back," he spoke.

"I'm not back," she told him. Well she was back part time.

He lifted his eyebrow, "It sure seems like you're back."

"Is there something I can help you with?" she asked him.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" he asked.

"I've been busy," she said a little offended. What did he think that she just sat around waiting for her Fitz signal to go off alerting her to the fact that he wanted to see and or hear from her. She had just had a baby a few months ago, her life had changed drastically. She had more than enough to worry about without adding to her plate actively trying to avoid him.

"Liv," she heard Huck's voice from behind her. She turned to look at her employee who was holding her daughter with two hands and away from his body as if she was going to explode at any minute. She then noticed the not so happy look on the child's face. "I think something's wrong with her."

She let out a sigh. She really needed to get Huck comfortable around younger kids, ones that couldn't play video games or talk. She knew from the time that the baby was probably hungry. She turned back to Fitz but saw that he had already made his way into her office, his eyes transfixed on her daughter who had just started to wail. She let out a frustrated sigh and walked back into the office space, taking the baby from Huck as she passed him. She didn't need to turn around to know that Fitz was following her. She stopped in their kitchen space to grab one of the bottles she had placed there when she had first gotten in this morning before going into her office.

Upon examining the baby further she realized that her diaper was soggy and decided to take care of that first before feeding her since the child had decided to hold off on her crying for the time being, probably because someone was actually holding her like a baby and not like she was a pile of barbed wire. She pulled the padded changing blanket from the bag and placed it on her coffee table before kneeling down in front of it and lying Adeline on top of it.

He watched her quietly as she went about changing the baby's diaper, methodically, as if she wasn't a first time mom. That was probably because you changed enough diapers during the first couple of months as a parent to the point where you could do it in your sleep, and sometimes, on some of the tougher nights, you did do it while you were technically asleep. He studied that baby a little longer. She looked like Olivia, but he could also pick out bits and pieces of the man he used to consider a friend at some point. He decided he should speak before his mind ran too far with that thought.

"Well," he started as he walked over to lean against her desk, still watching as she finished up the diaper change, "I never thought that I'd see this." He smiled, hoping for a positive interaction with her since he hadn't had one in a while.

"What do you want?" She asked him, not really in the mood for beating around the bush. She still had a lot of catching up to do and the fact that Adeline was going to be demanding her attention at unpredictable times during the day, she wasn't sure how much she was going to get done.

"Can't I just come to visit you?" he asked her.

"You can," she told him as she stood and picked up the baby, discarding the diaper in the waste bin. "It's just that you usually want something when you come by here or when you send Cyrus by, or when anyone from the white house really shows up on the door step of my office. So, what do you want?"

"I just wanted to see you," he told her. "Is that so hard to believe."

"Fitz," she tried, but he began talking again.

"Can I hold her?," he said just as she was about to pop the bottle in the baby's mouth.

"Uhm," she said before laughing nervously. She was going to come up with a reason why she didn't want him to hold her but before she could say anything, she felt her daughter being lifted out of her arms as the man took a seat beside her. Her hands momentarily followed the trajectory of her child, but caught herself from snatching her away from him.

"Um, be careful," she said as she fidgeted a little still fighting with herself to pull the baby away from him.

"Aww, I know how to handle a baby," he said smiling down at the baby as he took the bottle from her hands. "I've got kids of my own you know."

"Hmm," she returned, not really paying attention to him. She had never experienced this before, this was a first time feeling as a parent. Sure the only people that had been near the child other than her parents where her close friends she had known for years, but she still had never felt this strong a need to protect her baby, not even at the hospital. Well, maybe when she saw her father had magically appeared in her hospital room, but that was to be expected. She understood that. What she did not understand was why she was having these feelings with Fitz. This had been the man that she had actually planned on raising kids with, and even after she had found out about Adeline she had still not completely nixed the idea of having a life with him, but how was she supposed to do that when she was this nervous about him being around her baby.

"What's her name?" he asked, smiling down at the baby.

"Adeline," she told him, as she too smiled at the baby who wrapped her little hand around the finger she was offering her, continuing to suck at the bottle.

"That's a beautiful name," he said. "Little Adeline Pope."

"Ballard," she quickly corrected. He just looked at her with a look on his face, as if he was surprised and offended that he had made that correction in front of him. But she stood firm. "Her last name is Ballard." She confirmed, just in case he hadn't heard her before. She was not about to let anyone try to make her daughter into what they wanted her to be and she was not about to start the habit of teaching her to hide herself from people in order to please them. She had made the decision to place Adeline on her father's last name, and she didn't regret that. Her daughter's name was Adeline Ryan Ballard, and that's who she was. She wanted her to own and love herself, down to every last gene on every last chromosome.

He saw the resolution in her eyes, and immediately knew that this was one of those fights that he had better not challenge her own. Not just yet anyways.

"Okay, Little Adeline Ballard," he said before looking back to the baby. "You don't know how painful it was for me to say that kiddo," he finished before placing a kiss on the baby's forehead. "She's beautiful Liv."

Her response was only to fidget uncomfortably. He had been right. She had been somewhat avoiding him, and one of those reasons, she was coming to realize, was because she was not sure she was ready to introduce him into her daughter's life. The baby was none the wiser, but Olivia could feel that she herself was in downright Mommy panic mode. She felt like she was having a panic attack, but she didn't want to freak out because she didn't want to have to explain these feelings to Fitz. It didn't help that she looked up at that moment and saw Huck looking into her office with crazy eyes directed at the man holding her baby, he shared a look with her before continuing towards the front of the office. She knew what he was thinking, and that would be all she needed at that moment. Maybe that was the reason why she was so anxious, it had to be. She knew if Jake walked in, it would be a lot more to deal with. Not that he wouldn't have expected this, but they had had a somewhat open talk about this. She had promised him that she would not shut him out when it came to their daughter and how her own relationship with Fitz affected her. She had promised to let him know before she allowed Adeline anywhere near the man, but what she hadn't figured out was how she was going to go about doing that. She figured she had time, but apparently she had been wrong.

She continued to watch the man talk at her daughter who looked up at him as she continued to feed on the bottle he was giving her. The baby was fine for the time being, so she decided to try to calm herself a little. She had just run her hand through her hair and exhaled deeply when she heard a knock on the door. She looked up to see Huck standing there.

He opened the door and stuck his head in. "There's someone hear asking for you."

Her first thought was Jake, which caused her to panic a little but then she realized Huck wouldn't be announcing Jake. She felt some relief at the realization and as she saw the ridiculously hansom well-dressed man she had never seen before rounding the corner. She stood up, immediately going into business mode, believing him to be a client.

"Hello," he said as his pearly whites disappeared behind his teeth again. "I'm sorry," he said obviously believing he was interrupting something. He looked slightly confused for a while, maybe believing he was in the wrong place. "I was given this address by a friend," he said with a slight accent, eyeing the president of the United States holding the baby.

Whoever he was, he didn't seem to be too excited by seeing the POTUS there. "Well who is your friend and what do you need?" she asked him.

He smiled again. "You must be Olivia," he said extending his hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you." She shook his hand hesitantly and gave him a curious look. "I'm sorry, please forgive me. I haven't introduced myself. I'm Alexander Costa." The name still didn't seem to ring a bell with her. "Anna's friend."

"Oh," Olivia said finally catching on, "you're Him."

It was his turned to look confused but he smiled anyway, "I suppose so. I was supposed to meet her here. Is she around."

Olivia's eyes widened as she opened her mouth to speak after hearing the man's comment.

"You good?" it was Huck again. His boss seemed to have her hands full and he didn't want to walk away until he was sure she was okay.

Adeline took the opportunity to coo at this moment causing all of the adults to turn their attention towards her. Olivia saw that she had finished the bottle and was still wide awake, and from the way she was looking up into Fitz's face she was sure the little girl was ready for play time, and that meant she wasn't going to lay quietly in her bassinet while there were people in the room that should be paying attention to her.

"Actually," Olivia stated as she walked over to Fitz, seeing the opportunity to finally quell her anxiety without having to explain herself. She seized the baby from Fitz's arms and carried her over to Huck before handing her to him.

"What do you want me to do with her?" he asked her, looking like she had just told him that he was going to have to spend the rest of the day in a field of pastel flowers hiding Easter eggs dressed as the Easter bunny.

"I just need you to hold her for a few minutes while I straighten this out," she told him, still holding her baby midair as he had made no effort to take her.

"Liv, I don't know anything about taking care of babies," he told her.

The pretentious smile she had been wearing to make everyone in the room believe that she had had everything under control disappeared. Recently the job description of working in her office slash being her friend hand changed, and she needed Huck to get on board, quickly. And where the hell was Quinn? She at least still had some of her normal human interaction side still intact. "Sure you do," she told him. "Because you have a son, remember? You bought him here a little while back, I know because I was so shocked when I found him here."

"Yeah but you said," he tried to counter.

"Huck, take her," she told him, looking the man in the eye. "If you need anything, I'm right across the hall. I just need a few minutes."

He nodded before taking the baby from his bosses arms, and trying to pretend that he was holding Javi when he was a baby. Olivia watched as the baby rested her little chin on Huck's shoulder, smiling back at her as she caught a glimpse of her mother as she was carried out of the office. Okay, now that she had Adeline tucked away for the time being. It was time to get Fitz out of her office and back to the white house, break Alexander's heart, and then call Anna and let her have it for not telling this man that she was leaving and then sending him her way for her to deal with the consequences.

She turned around to see Alexander and Fitz shaking hands. "Hello Mr. President," Alexander stated. "It's nice to meet you. I've been meaning to make it to some of your events but I'm more of a hands on, in the trenches kinda guy. My partner is usually the one that handles all of that bureaucratic crap," the man said before catching himself. "Sorry, I guess I shouldn't have phrased it that way."

Olivia smile to herself, yeah, this was Anna's friend. Thankfully he seemed to be a little more apologetic about the way his lack of restraint may have come off to other people.

"Is there anything else I can help you with Mr. President," Olivia said walking back over to the two men. Fitz knew that the formality was his queue to exit unless he had some serious urgent business for her.

"No," he told her putting his hands in his pockets. "That'll be all for now Ms. Pope. But I would like you to stop by the white house if you get a chance later. There is some business I would like your advice on."

"I will be by later," she smiled at him. He nodded at her and Alexander before walking towards the door, brushing his hand against hers lightly as he passed her. The smile disappeared from her face as she hoped the other man in the room hadn't seen the gesture.

"Sorry to stop by unannounced. I know you're busy," the man started, calling her attention back to him, "but I was under the impression that Anna would be here."

Right, she still had to deal with that.

Thankfully, Alexander, or Alex as he had told her to call him, completely understood, being well aware of Anna and her issues and having suffered them on multiple occasions. She had apologized profusely on behalf of the woman, but he had told her not to worry and he knew it wasn't her fault. She still felt bad, so she decided to treat him to lunch, during which she talked and got to know him a little better and he actually seemed like a pretty nice guy. She had even let him hold Adeline, and she hadn't felt a bit anxious about it. A fact which she tried profusely to put out of her head. Ultimately she had ended up changing contact information with the man and they had said that they would hang out again since he would be in D.C. for a few weeks. She had even given him the keys to Anna's apartment, telling him to make himself at home and save himself the money on the hotel room. A fact which Anna would freak out about later, but whatever. She deserved it for pulling that stunt.

After lunch she had finally thought that she would be able to get some work done, but nope, there was a client there waiting on her. Thankfully, Quinn had decided to show up, so she was on in-office babysitting duties. But then Quinn and Huck had needed to get started on some research for their new case and she needed to go to the white house, so she picked up the phone to call Jake and thankfully he hadn't been in the middle of something dangerous so she was currently on her way to meet him at the address he had given her.

She stopped in front of the building, double checking the address. She looked inside and it looked like a gym. She walked in with the wrap carrier wrapped around her and Adeline safely secured against her chest, softly stroking the baby's head as she used her hand to give her a little support. She liked the wrap, especially since it was cold out. She felt like it helped her to keep the baby warmer. And clearly Adeline liked it too as she had taken the opportunity to fall asleep on their short walk over.

"May I help you," one of the men said walking over to her after seeing how she was looking around the gym. She seemed to be loss. She looked loss in her expensive coat, shoes, and expensive baby wrapper thing.

"I'm looking for Jake Ballard," she told him. "I'm supposed to be meeting him here." She finally looked at the man, giving up on her search for Jake for the time being.

"Yeah, he's in the back. Let me go get him," the man said as he walked off towards the back of the gym. She continued to look around, which seemed to be a boxing gym. It seemed like a really nice gym, but she wasn't sure she wanted to leave her kid there. Maybe she would just forgo her trip to the white house or see if Abby was able to keep Adeline. Damn it. She really needed to hire a sitter now that it seemed she was back at work full time.

Soon she saw Jake coming from the back of the gym with the guy that had gone to the back to get him and two women, one a sandy blonde and the other one a golden blonde. They all seemed to be discussing something amusing, the golden blonde pushing her body into his slightly causing both the men to laugh at whatever she had just said. He waved when he spotted her and a tight smile graced her lips. She was definitely not leaving her baby here if he wasn't going to be paying attention to her.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked seemingly a little winded as if the man had just interrupted a work out session. He sat his bag on the counter and began digging through it, pulling a royal blue baby sling from it. Olivia had tried to convince him to just share the wrap to which he had given her a look before replying, "No." And when she had tried to persuade him to get the lilac sling instead of royal blue one, he had accused her of being sexist and playing into gender roles, to which she had laughed knowing that the only reason he didn't want to share the sling was because it was too feminine.

"Hey," she said finally taking her eyes away from the hands-y blonde woman and looking up at him. "Are you sure this is okay? If you're preoccupied I don't want you to be distracted."

"Are you crazy?" he said helping her to lift Adeline from the wrap, and completely missing what she was referring to "she is the distraction. Look at this face."

She smiled as he immediately slipped into Daddy mode, kissing the baby's cheek causing her little hands to swat at the nuisance that was disturbing her sleep. And as if on queue. Sandy blonde came over to them.

"Oh my gosh," she said. "Is this your baby? Can I hold her?" Before either one of them could answer, the girl was taking Adeline from his arms.

Olivia's eyebrow's furrowed, and he didn't miss the way she shifted uncomfortably, seemingly readying herself to give the woman a talking to. Probably about how you shouldn't go around snatching people's babies who you didn't even know. But they were good people. They were his friends. He had met Danny back when he first joined the Navy and Sloan was his sister. They had both recently moved to DC. Danny to open his gym and Sloan just because she needed a change of scenery and her brother provided free boarding for the time being.

"Oh my god she is adorable," she said cuddling the baby to her chest and looking at Olivia. She must have read the unamused look on the woman's face as she quickly apologized.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "Hi, I'm Sloan."

Olivia only nodded. But she still sensed the tension. The woman looked between them sensing she had done something wrong. She knew Jake, but clearly this was this little girl's mother and she too would feel some type of way if some crazy lady came up and started fawning over her baby the way she was.

"Is this okay?" she asked Jake.

"Uh, yeah," he said looking at Olivia, letting her know it was fine. "Sloan, this is Olivia. The mother of this adorable little girl you just abducted," he said lightening the mood a little.

She laughed and hit him in the chest with one hand holding on to Adeline with the other, "Shut up." She told him before rubbing Adeline's back with the hand she had just used to hit him with, "I'm so sorry," she apologized again. "I feel like an idiot. I feel like I should give her back." She handed the baby back to Jake. "I'm going to leave now, because you probably don't like me."

"No, it's fine," Olivia told her. "Well, now that I actually know your name." She didn't want it to be mistaken that she didn't like the way the woman had taken hold of her baby, but she was willing to be forgiving since she actually realized her mistake and seemed to be genuinely sorry about it.

The woman laughed again. "Well I'm going to leave, now that I've made an fool of myself. It was nice meeting you."

"You too," Olivia said as the woman hurried out of the front of the gym.

"Are you sure, you're okay watching her here," Olivia asked again, looking around at the busy gym.

"Naw," he replied as he began strapping Adeline into the sling. "I was just about to leave. You gonna be home late?" He asked grabbing his bag after making sure the baby was secured in the carrier.

"Hopefully not," she told him as they began walking out of the gym. "I just need to stop by the white house."

"You grabbing dinner on the way home or am I making it?" he asked her, he had made a vow to himself to make an effort to not react to her dealings with the white house.

"Oh, you're making it," she laughed. She had been pleasantly surprised to find out that he was actually a good cook, but she should have seen that coming as much as he tortured her about having food or not having food for that matter, in her apartment. Which she had done a better job with during her pregnancy and after, when realizing she couldn't survive on popcorn and wine alone while breastfeeding and after realizing that everyone around her could actually prepare a decent meal except for her. Even Huck, what the hell was that. Anna had tried to teach her somethings before she left, saying that she felt sorry for Adeline once she started eating solid foods being that her diet would consist of popcorn, burgers and fries, and watered down wine. She had rolled her eyes at the woman, but gladly accepted her help being that Adeline would actually one day start eating human food and she actually wanted to be able to provide a healthy and nutritious diet for her child when that time came. Not to mention she had actually gotten used to eating real solid food from all of the food groups. But for now, she was going to milk Jake's skills in the kitchen for what it was worth since his was currently better than hers.

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A/N: Hopefully I can work an Abby/Charles chapter in here soon. I don't know if I wanted to do it as a flashback though or as a present thing or a combination, so I just have to figure that out. Anyways, read, review, let me know if their is something you guys wanna see happen in this story.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Oh summer television show hiatus. I'm actually liking it this time around for Scandal though. I need a break from Olivia because she makes my head hurt when it comes to her love life and Rowan. I said I was going to wait a few episodes in to see if I would continue watching just so I don't have to unnecessarily put up with the creepy faces of Fitz but they know how to keep me coming back...they let Maya "Who Gone Check Me Boo" Pope out of jail (I know she never changed her last name but it just goes so well with the show). Now I'm torn, but I do believe my love for Mama Pope character outways my hate of Fitz character, and that's saying a mouthful and some. But we'll see. Is it bad that I want Mama Pope and Olivia to reconcile? I mean it feels a little like I'm routing for a child to go back to an abusive home, but then I'm like well their relationship seems like it was good before Rowan snatched her up. But then I'm like she was going to leave Olivia though, and then I'm thinking maybe she thought it was the best thing for her maybe Liv was a surprise and she never intended to pull her child into that underground world or maybe she was going to come back for her. And it's weird because it's like she never got out of mom mode, she's is doing all this crazy terrorist stuff but she is a****lways willing to learn a listening ear to Olivia or get her together. And she slips back and forth between the two so easily, which is how I know she is legit crazy lol. I just can't with those two though, I'm so torn. And when Joe Morton turned on Papa Pope on the Charleston, SC flag story. Was I the only one who immediately took a seat and was like Olivia better sit down somewhere before we all get in trouble? lol Anyways here's the next chapter. I think it mostly turned out to be smut, which wasn't my intention but meh...what can you do? Sorry if its a little disjointed around the end. I wasn't feeling well and was still trying to do something I considered semiproductive (something that's not really productive but that I wanted to get done anyways). So hope you enjoy. Oh and this is that chapter that's going to change it to M rating.**

* * *

She opened the door to her apartment and pushed the baby jogger as she followed behind it still slightly out of breath from her morning jog that hadn't happened in months. She smiled as she looked into the jogger that Jake had brought mainly for her and saw that Adeline was asleep. He had brought it after she had voiced out loud to herself while he was in the nearby vicinity that she was going to get back into a regular workout routine, with some added variations such as yoga, which she had discovered the benefits of during her pregnancy. And truth be told she was a little excited about becoming a yogi after seeing all the different poses that the people in the advanced classes were doing. She, at first, thought they would be easy but after trying a few she realized the work that went into finding that balance, concentration and triggering those small muscles in synchronization with each other, those muscles that we often forget that we have. Today wasn't a yoga day, but it was a running day, her first outside running day since she found out that she was pregnant, and she was beat, but she still needed to get showered, get dressed and get their things together to head to her office.

She sighed, the smile remaining on her face as she carefully lifted the baby out of the carrier. She was starting to feel like herself again, which she was happy about. She had been feeling a little down since giving birth. She was ecstatic to be a mom and loved her baby more than anything she could have ever imagined, but it was hard. Mainly for her it was due to the fact that her whole life was thrown off balance. She was a control freak to put it mildly, she had come to terms with that when she was in college and she was also highly efficient and independent and able to easily adjust, for the most part, to things that were thrown at her throughout the day, or night for that matter. Now, not so much.

One of the reasons for the recent upswing in her mood was because she felt like she was finally starting to find her footing on this Mommy merged with the formidable Olivia Pope mountain that she was climbing. But she was still trying to come to terms with the fact that she was now more dependent on other people, mainly because she couldn't just go off on a whim or change plans midstride because she had someone depending on her, like literally, life or death depending on her, not the normal dependency that she got from the adults in her life. She couldn't just drop everything and go to investigate and or interrogate a possibly dangerous or just an asshole of a person because she couldn't drag her baby into it. So she had to find someone who was available to look after Adeline when Jake wasn't available. And even when he didn't already have her she had to wait for him to finish tying up some loose ends to whatever he was in the midst of before he could meet up with her to take The baby. Which lead to her current dilemma, finding a nanny, au pair, or whatever the hell she was looking for. This would probably be easier if she didn't have such high demands that came with the job. For instance, she wanted someone who would be able to make her daughter available to her throughout the day not just sit at home and take care of her. She wanted the baby to be at the office with her but she also needed to be able to work when she had too, so she wanted someone that could stay with her for the most part and tend to the baby when she couldn't, which was hard because that meant she needed someone who she could be sure could take and keep a vow of silence about the things she might see or overhear while at her office or anywhere else for that matter, yeah this was going to be a task.

She laid the child down in the crib and stripped her of our thick outer layer, careful not to wake her. She then proceeded to strip herself of her jacket, dropping it on the table in the hallway, leading to her bathroom. She then slipped her tennis off followed by her socks, leaving a small trail of clothing behind her. Thankfully, she had also hired a maid that came twice a week and she was due to come by later that day. It was easy keeping an apartment clean when it was just her and she was rarely there and never cooked there or actually lived there for that matter. The most she had to worry about when it was just her was remembering where she put the remote, cleaning her wine glasses, throwing away popcorn bags and takeout containers and dropping off and picking up the dry cleaning. She was still pretty good about cleaning, but she liked to have her apartment a little bit cleaner than they were able to keep it themselves. If she was honest though, Adeline was pushing her a little bit out of her control freak and neat freak zone, she had to start becoming more lax in some places unless she would become too stressed and probably would have spiraled down even further into her depression. A depression which she had learned was normal for a lot of first time moms and that occurred for a lot of reasons one of them being her reason. A highly function individual suddenly feeling like a bumbling idiot, but thankfully she wasn't feeling like that anymore.

She opened the bathroom door to find that it was already full of steam and that water was running from the shower. Her brows furrowed in disapproval.

"Jake?" she called out to which she got a questioning, "Yeah?"

Her shoulders sunk as stepped in front of the shower glass. She had thought he was gone. "Why are you in the shower?"

"Is that a real question?" he asked after a thoughtful pause.

She rolled her eyes, "Why are you in _my_ shower?"

He didn't respond at first but she came face to face with him when he passed his hand over the inside of the glass, clearing the fog away. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize I had a designated shower to use," he said in a sarcastic tone.

He didn't have a designated shower to use. It's just that this shower was in the main bathroom the one off of her bedroom and it had the good showerhead and she had been looking forward to using it and she was going to be late if she waited for him to finish.

"Hurry up," she said turning to the mirror to pull the ponytail holder from her hair. "I'm going to be late."

"I just got in here," he told her. "Go use the other shower."

"You go use the other shower," she retorted, becoming slightly annoyed with him, but not really. She honestly just for some reason felt like picking with him. She hadn't intended to when she walked in there and found him using up all the hot water, but she was in somewhat of a playful mood, but on the other hand she really wanted him out of the shower so she could get in it.

"That's going to be a while, I'm really dirty," he said teasingly and she turned around to answer him back but saw his face was back in the clearing that he had made with his eyebrow raised, which caused her to start laughing.

"I really, really want to punch you sometimes, you know that," she said pulling her shirt off and preparing to go use another one of the bathrooms. She really was going to be late. "I should come in there and kick your ass out of there," she mumbled to herself, but he heard her, and let out a haughty, genuinely amused laugh.

It's not that he didn't think she would do it, he was just amused by the fact that the woman would allow herself to invade his intimately nude personal space as allow him to invade hers after not showing much sexual interest in him for the past three months or so. Sure they had been sharing a bed for months, and they often cuddled, but they had not had sex since the child was born. Not that he was complaining, out loud, after all when the going got tough enough, he had options. Olivia had made it clear to him that they were not in a relationship and that she was still leaving her options open and he had left it at that, so now they were in this weird limbo thing but not really, which he had been trying to avoid. How this would work itself out was yet to be seen, but they were good for now. They had been cohabitating peacefully for the last few months, and it almost made him regret shelling out the extra money for the rent on his apartment, though he did go there sometimes and he had managed to set up a nursery for Adeline. It wasn't anywhere nearly as extravagant as what Olivia had set up but it was a completely functional nursery and he was proud of it, since he had did it himself.

She stared at the shower stall for a few seconds having an internal discussion. She stripped out of the rest of her clothes before pulling the shower door open revealing a surprised Jake who had flinched away from her as if she was holding a gun to him, his mouth slightly open. His eyes traveled up and down her body a couple of times before settling on her face again, waiting for her to make her next move. He honestly didn't know if she was about to join him or push him out so she could have it for herself.

She smiled, satisfied with herself as she had surprised him and proven herself that she would actually invade his shower time. He watched silently as she stepped in under the stream of water, raising her hand as she let the water flow through her hair, and it started to curl even more than when the steam had hit it. She closed her eyes purposefully ignoring and enticing him. She smiled inwardly as she continued to let the hot stream of water beat against her strained muscles. She hummed appreciatively almost forgetting her original mission. Well it wasn't her original mission, but she had just discovered that her sex drive was back full force. The smile returned to her face as she felt his hand at her side, soon followed by the rest of him as he tried to pull her closer. She giggled when he turned her around and pulled her body against his.

"I thought you wanted me to go get my own shower," she told him.

"Pretty sure I didn't say that," he smiled before pressing his lips to hers.

This kiss stared out pretty fervent but grew even more intense as their hands started to explore each other's bodies with the eagerness of new lovers. She moaned loudly as his mouth slipped from hers to the pulse point on her neck and his fingers simultaneously slipped between her legs, instantly finding the bundle of nerves he had been searching for.

A guttural noise escaped him as he sucked at her skin, tasting the salty mist of sweat that had covered her during her cold morning run and the sweet taste that was naturally her, mixed with the water droplets that covered her skin just seemed to make it easier to drink her in. He had no idea where this had come from and couldn't even pin point what had happened in the last five minutes to lead them here, but he didn't care as he could barely process anything more than the way her body felt against his and his desire to feel even more of her. She made it abundantly clear that she was feeling the same when her hand slipped between them and she began stroking his member. She smiled and moaned again as she remembered just how pleasurable this was going to be.

Jake being the ever conscious lover knew that shower sex wasn't the best type of sex for him and Olivia as it could be very physically demanding depending on the mood they were in. And he could tell that this was going to be one of those sessions. So he had to figure this out without one or both of them falling and hurting themselves in this slippery environment.

Suddenly she found herself being turned around and pushed forward gently, his hands guiding hers to the clear glass on the front of the shower. She then felt his large calloused hands ghosting gently down her body, setting her skin on fire as he seemed to be setting off all of her nerve endings with his feathery touch. She whimpered and grounded her backside against him, letting him know that she was ready and growing impatient. He got the message.

She gasped as she felt him penetrating her from behind. He could feel her muscles stretching to accommodate him as he continued to push inside of her, earning a grunt from him as he seated himself almost fully inside of her. He looked up into her eyes as she turned her head to look at him, her mouth slightly open and her eyes full of lust as her breaths came steady and heavy. She was a sight to behold, and he felt his member twitch inside of her, his hands grasping her hips and his snapping forward involuntarily to push the last of himself into her earning a scream from her.

"Jake," she said shakily, the words "fuck me" were about to slip from her lips but he seemed to get his wits about him as he withdrew himself from her suddenly and almost completely before pushing back into her causing her to bite her lip and let out a loud moan. She had forgotten that he wasn't one that needed to be directed and redirected constantly.

"Fuck Liv," he side as he felt her insides tremble against him. He withdrew from her again, picking up a rhythm of long, powerful strokes that had her moaning uncontrollably and throwing her hips back at him as if challenging him to make her orgasm come quicker than it was already going to. What finally did it for her was when she whipped her head back around and caught sight of them in the mirror. Now she would deny it for the most part if someone was to ever ask, one of the main reasons because she wanted to avoid the subject of making a sex tape since she knew first hand from her clients that that could go wrong so many ways, but she enjoyed watching herself and her lover during the sexual act, particularly Jake, as they often found themselves in some of the more erotic poses, and even when they weren't it was just something about the intensity that they shared that turned her on even more.

"Oh God," she moaned as she clawed as the smooth surface of the glass finding no purchase. She felt her pelvic muscles go into convulsions as her legs grew slack, her forehead resting on the glass as she rode out her orgasm.

He watched through the mirror as she orgasmed, a whimper escaping her as he withdrew completely from her. He was almost there, but he could find a better way to get there as their height difference and the slickness of her skin was not giving him the best angle and grip. As she was still recovering from her first orgasm, she felt herself being turned and lifted again. Her back came into to contact with the cold stone wall as she instinctively wrapped her legs around him. Her mouth formed a silent 'O' as she felt him pressing into her again, instantly picking up a rhythm and driving into her repetitively. Not willing to be a passive lover and feeling her second orgasm building from her increased sensitivity due to her first one, she reached up and behind her, her fingertips finding enough space on the designed indentation to give her enough leverage to pull herself up slightly and drop back down onto him. She smiled to herself when he bit the spot on her neck where he had been kissing and let out a small grunt. She was going to bring him with her this time. It only took a few minutes before she had to let go of the ledge and hold onto him as her second orgasm overcame her. His arms wrapped fully around her wet body, making sure that he didn't drop her as he thrusted into her one last time, spilling inside of her. They stayed there for a minute, her arms and legs still wrapped around him, one of his arms bracing him against the wall as he held onto her with the other hand, both of them trying to catch their breaths.

"Well that escalated rather quickly," he said, causing her to laugh, which brought a smile to his face. He loved to see her happy. He tangled his hand in her wet curls before pressing his lips to hers again.

They stayed there a little while longer, their kissing growing to nips and pecks before picking up again until they were interrupted by the crying coming from the monitor she had brought in the bathroom with her.

"I'll get her," he said after stepping away from her, allowing her to place her feet back on the ground. "You should hurry you're gonna be late for work," he added before stepping out of the shower. She smiled, she was already late, but it was well worth it.

* * *

"Aww Adeline," Olivia said putting the pen behind her as the baby cried, "you can't have that."

The infant only responded by pouting, her bottom lip jutting out causing her mother to laugh as she realized her daughter was getting the hang of facial expressions.

"Are you upset with me?" Olivia asked, but she was already over it. The baby had already set her sights on the toy next to her that was in her reach, a stuffed giraffe. She managed to slide it right under her mouth and immediately began drooling on it.

She let her continue to entertain herself while she worked over the statement she had written out for her client. A few minutes later she heard a knock at the door. Knowing Abbie was coming over for dinner, she picked Adeline up off of the blanket and went to let her in. The two women then made their way into the kitchen, the red head now holding the baby.

Olivia was going to cook dinner and in exchange for free food, Abbie was going to be one of her guinea pigs, Jake being the other.

"Oh sweetie," Abbie said as she sat down at the island bar as Olivia began gathering her ingredients, "you are getting bigger and cuter every day, and I didn't even think that was possible."

The baby only chewed on her fists as she let the woman begin to coo over her.

"Have you ever cooked this before?" Olivia asked drawing Abbie's attention to her. She just stared back at her friend.

Abbie could cook, but she was no Julia Child. "Give me your Ipad," she said reaching her free hand towards the woman. "I'll pull up the recipe."

-–-

It wasn't until Olivia was putting the top layer of cheese on the dish that they heard Jake coming through the front door. She popped the dish in the oven right as he entered the kitchen.

"Hi," she greeted with a smile as she began cleaning up the mess she had made.

"Hi," he responded, a little absentmindedly. "Hey Abbie. How's it going?"

"Hey," she responded. "Hope you don't mind me freeloading on you guys' food and your cute baby," she said snuggling the little girl, who was no longer paying attention to her as her eyes remained on the man who had just walked through the door.

Jake finally made eye contact with his daughter who instantly gave him a toothless grin. A smile instantly came to his face and he seemed a little less distracted as he walked over to take the child away from the red head. The baby only cooed at him as he smiled down at her, wiping a string of drool from her chin.

"Traitor," Abbie said as she released the baby to him. She then excused herself to go to the restroom.

"You okay?" Olivia asked him as she saw that he seemed to have something on his mind.

"Yeah," he said coming to stand on the opposite side of the counter from her. "Funny thing happened today though. Has Adeline been around Fitz lately, or at all?"

She continued to look down at the pot she was rinsing out, refusing to look up at him. She didn't respond, her expression becoming impassive. He continued looking at her, knowing he would get his answer one way or another. After a few more seconds passed without her saying anything, he knew what that answer was.

"Who told you that?" she finally answered still staring down at the dish in the sink. She knew she was busted. She should have just told him the day it happened, but she hadn't. She didn't know why she hadn't. Maybe it was because she felt guilty about it happening the way it had.

"Oh, yeah," he started again. "I went to the white house today. I saw Cyrus. He said to call him when Addie gets a little older. He wants to set up a play date." With that he walked out of the kitchen.

* * *

**A/N: yep that was disjointed and rushed and not complete. But seriously who gets a cold in the summer time. That is a close to being an oxymoron as something can get without actually being one. And I never get summer colds but apparently my body decided to try new things this year, sigh. Now if I can just sleep. Also, Anybody still reading this? Let me know, leave a review. If not updates will continue to be scarce.**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: So 2 revelations that have come from this Olake appreciation week for me. So board my train of thought that run along tangential tracks and find out where I ended up. So someone said Fitz it's trash, even if you take away the fact that he's married, he would still be bad for Liv or anyone else that wasn't a complete horrible person (side note: I am all for horrible people of the same level of horribleness getting together and making each other's lives a living hell, they deserve and if I could I would set up a match making service based on it just to ensure that these people would be miserable because again, some people deserve it, anyways...), that same someone also said that he will turn on Liv when he finds out that she almost exposed Remington and I was like yeah he probably will, because let's be real, Fitz is one of those people that can do anything to anyone and doesn't want anyone to even look at him the wrong way, then that got me to thinking, he is about the only character on this show that hasn't taken a significant hit. A hit like someone was trying to do something horrible to you and they succeeded now you have to deal with it and find a way to move on. He always almost gets hits like this, but per usual someone always comes in and saves him, so that got me to thinking about his multiple suicide attempts that always center around Olivia. And as a person who has personal experiences with depression and suicidal and a dark sense of humor, it was a little humorous to me that Olivia is always the straw that breaks the camel's back. Anyone who knows anything about depression knows that it's usually multiple negative events that causes someone to go down the path of depression. Even if someone has a life changing event that causes them anxiety, it usually takes that anxiety mucking up other aspects of their lives before they get to the point of wanting to commit suicide. But it's like Fitz is going along fine, then Olivia decides to take vacation without informing him and he can't go on with life...Really? Then he says these things to her like that's romantic or cute. "Like I couldn't go one without you, I almost took my own life." And she's sitting there are quiver lip and I'm like seriously? No one's going to call a psychiatrist or some other type of mental help specialist. Liv, if you really loved him you would set him free, preferably inside of a mental institution, but still. Cause if she loves him like this show has her behaving like she does, she would want to get him some help first. And again that's just not cute, now that I think about it I feel like this show is almost making a mockery of depression and suicide with that ass backwards weak as character because I believe, some people who have depression or some of the strongest people. Could you imagine waking up everyday with no hope and desolation and still going on...**

**Second thing, someone also said in their tags on tumblr about bad things that come Liv and Jake's way and after digesting it, our ship is just like "Whatever, Bring it!" And although I still don't know if I will be watching Scandal as faithfully secondary to the dude mentioned above and me not thinking my eyes can handle all of the rolling they will have to do and also some other reasons that has nothing...you know what nevermind. I will probably fail at not watching because I really want to see a Free Mya Pope. But seriously every time something happens to Liv and Jake I'm like Boooo...for the first five seconds then I'm like really, they gonna have to come harder than that to keep these two crazies apart, I mean really. They can't even keep themselves apart. They take turns being like nope, I'm leaving, not doing it anymore for XYZ reasons then they be like hold up, let me check up and make sure everything good and I don't have go AWOL on somebody for messing with my Boo thang. Somebody made a comparison gif of Liv saying "I want Jake Ballard gone." then right next to it was the scene where she was yelling at either Rowan of Fitz I forget which one saying "You bring him back!" And that was the moment I realized Olivia is slightly crazy on her own, not just a result of a traumatic childhood lol. Because I almost kinda took Rowan's side on that second gif seeing it immediately to to the other one. I was like well hold on, you gotta make a decision, we can't just be running back and forward reversing shit we just did.**

**Also I do believe that I visit some of you guys' Tumblr, and I saw this story posted on jamaicanheaux's tumblr, who I'm assuming reads the story since that would only make sense since she knew about it so thanks for the shoutout. Also I don't know how many of you guys have tumblr but I like visiting people's tumblr so if you have one or know of a good one let me know, even though I'm not on the Tumblr (I'm just kidding, I'm not that old lol I just don't have the time that I would like to have to put into developing it since I've seriously tried to start a blog about 3 different times).**

**Anyways next chapter. Spoiler: Yay, Stephen!**

* * *

She sat her coffee down on the table in front of her and stared at him as he read the day's paper. He hadn't said anything to her since the waiter took their order. They were sitting in one of their favorite cafés at one of her favorite tables right by the window having breakfast. It was a bit of a late breakfast, since they had Adeline's doctor's appointment before. Thankfully everything had checked out okay, unfortunately she had gotten immunizations, during which she cried and remained cranky until a little after they arrived at the café, which was when she thankfully fell asleep. Things had been a little tense between them since he confronted her about having the baby around Fitz and not informing him, but he had at least been talking to her. She rubbed her hands against the cup of coffee, warming them. She turned and looked at the baby and saw the she was still sleeping peacefully. She then gazed out of the window before speaking. "You're not talking to me," she said sadly.

He looked up from his paper and stared at her, making sure she was talking to him. He hadn't thought that she was but apparently she was as she turned back to face him. His brow furrowed at her statement.

"I'm not not talking to you," he corrected her as he folded the paper in half, "I just didn't know you had anything you wanted to talk about." He sat the paper down in front of him. He knew that he had been quiet, but so had she. His thoughts had been preoccupied, one of them being the her and Fitz thing. They had been sitting in comfortable silence as far as he was concerned, which had never really been a problem for them before. "What's up? What do you want to talk about?" He picked up his coffee and took a sip.

She just stared at him. She had never had to have something that she wanted to talk about before for them to fall into comfortable, small yet meaningful talk. She scoffed before shaking her head and turning away from him. "You're upset with me?"

He just stared at her trying to figure out why she seemed pissed. He had an idea why, and that had nothing to do with him, but everything to do with her and her insecurities that a certain person seemed to always bring to the forefront. He had no idea how she dealt with this before but he was pretty sure since he came into the picture, she just opted to make him her target for the most part, sometimes Abbie when she dared to broach the subject.

"Liv I'm not upset with you," he told her, but she just stared at him. "Disappointed, yeah." They were both on the same page, they didn't have to voice what they were talking about. "But it doesn't matter, you don't owe me anything."

She watched as he went back to pick up the paper. She'd supposed that his words were to make her feel better, to relieve her of her guilt but somehow his willingness to forgive and forget only seemed to make her feel worst about herself.

"What are you doing for Valentine's day?" she asked him, deciding to start the conversation that she had initially planned to ease into when she first started speaking.

He peered up at her over the paper before responding. "Nothing, I can keep her."

Her mouth fell open, now he was just being dense and annoying. She was asking because she wanted to make sure that they were doing something together. Sure it was implied that every night they'd be having dinner together unless someone said otherwise, but she wanted to be sure about that particular night because if she was going to spend her Valentine's evening alone, she wanted a little heads up otherwise it would just be depressing. Usually she and Abbie spent their Valentine's at one of their apartments binging on pizza and ice cream and watching popular movies from their teenage years and singing along to the soundtrack, but Abbie had a date this year.

"I wasn't asking you to keep Adeline," she said, sounding annoyed which made him stop reading the paper again. "I was trying to ask if you wanted to do something together." She bit her tongue to keep from adding some derogatory words at the end of the sentence.

She rolled her eyes at him before gathering her things, taking the blanket and throwing it over the carrier, grabbing her bag and the carrier and walking out of the restaurant.

He had tried to call after her, because he was supposed to have Adeline for the day, but after she ignored him, he decided to just go after her. He was only a few feet behind her when they entered the lobby of her office building and he had almost made it onto the elevator with her if she wouldn't have hit the door close button while looking straight at him as he called her name one last time.

He hopped on the next elevator and headed up to her office. "Hey Huck, how's it going?" he said as he passed the man's office.

He received a gruff, "Hey," in response, the man not even turning to acknowledge him. He shook his head silently to himself. He didn't have the time nor the energy to get into it with Huck about his interpersonal skills again.

"Hey," Quinn said sounding surprised to see him.

"Hey," he responded as he watched Olivia go into her office.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him.

He put his hand up in the air before letting it fall back to his side. "Coming to get Addie," he said. That made no sense since he hadn't left the child all morning, but 'following behind Olivia while she ignores me because she's angry at me for no reason' sounded a little pathetic.

"Thought Liv didn't want you calling her that," she smiled at him. He shrugged. She then pulled out a picture. "Hey, this guy look familiar to you?"

He studied the picture for a little while before replying, "No, who is he?"

"I don't know," she said placing the picture back in the file and starting to walk towards Huck's office. "That's why I asked you if he looks familiar."

He made his way over to her office and walked in to find that Adeline was still sleeping. He looked at Olivia and saw that she had already taken a seat behind her desk and was starting to go through her phone.

"Okay, I don't know what that was," he told her as he started to gather the baby's things, "but I'm going to head out now."

She only looked up at him for a moment before turning back to her phone and beginning to type up a reply to either an email or a text. He had had all intentions of rushing out of her office and leaving her to work through whatever it is she was going through, but he had seen more sadness than anger in that look she had just given him. And unfortunately for him, he hated to see her sad. He picked up the carrier and was preparing to head out of the office. He had almost made it to the door, his hand was on the handle. He let out a frustrated sigh before turning back around to face her. "Hey," he said causing her eyes to drift back up to him again. "You got any plans for Valentine's Day?"

She looked at him a few seconds before diverting her eyes back to her phone. She then replied, "Yes, as a matter of fact I do. I am going to be having dinner at my apartment alone. You can join me if you want to or don't, it's up to you."

He smiled to himself and let out a small chuckle. She was being ridiculous and he knew she knew it. It was confirmed when he saw the smile she had been trying to hold back. "Okay Liv," he said in a tone that let her know he thought she was being a brat, but he was going to let her have this one. "What time should I be there?"

She shrugged, "Seven?"

"Sound's good." He walked out her office taking the baby with him.

* * *

"Hey," Olivia said as she picked up the computer, seeing one of her good friends she rarely got to see in person anymore appear on the screen.

She had originally been texting Stephen but then he had asked her to face time him so he could get a chance to see his goddaughter whose christening he had flown down to D.C for a few weeks ago.

"Hey, where is she?" he replied.

"And here I was thinking you just wanted to get a little more personal time with your old friend Stephen," Olivia said with a tsk. "I should've known better."

"Yes you should've," he joked with her. "Now where is she?"

He could make out a lot of movement from the screen, then all of a sudden it stabilized and he could see from the angle that she had set it down on the floor. She however, continued to move, reaching off screen for something. He soon saw a pink polka dot blanket come into frame, and soon after saw the baby that it was wrapped around, her mother also coming back onto the screen with the back of a pacifier pursed between her lips. She took a minute to pull what seemed to be the computer cord from the baby's hand before trying to settle the child on her lap, but the little girl was already reaching for something else. She finally got the little girl's hands untangled from her hair and sat the baby down facing the computer.

"There she is," Steven said as he finally caught a glimpse of the obviously more active baby's face. But the little girl was already reaching for something else on the floor near her. He and Olivia continued their conversation as he talked about how big she had gotten. It wasn't until the baby managed to pull the iphone up to her mouth, though with a little bit of a struggle. Olivia just wrinkled her forehead and pried the device from the baby's hands and away from her open mouth.

Stephen couldn't help but to laugh, because the baby seemed to be trying to get at everything within her reach, and it seemed to be a constant thing from Olivia's reaction. She laughed too, already knowing what he was thinking.

"She's really active," he said.

"Yeah. Grabby handed wiggle worm," she replied as she seemed to try to make a clearing around the baby, handing her one of her teething toys in the process which she immediately grabbed for. Stephen just laughed harder as he realized the baby had actually been making grabby hands the entire time.

"It's not funny," Olivia smiled at him. It really was, but she realized that being a mother was a dynamic role. As soon as you thought you'd learned to anticipate all the things needed to take care of your baby, they seemed to develop another skill that made you feel like you were failing in some parts. Like when Adeline had almost rolled off of the changing table. She hadn't even really stepped away from her, just leaned over to grab her phone, and the little girl who already had both feet in the air and her hands grabbing on to them had accidentally rolled to the side. The baby was fine, but she was pretty sure she infarcted a piece of her heart and stroked out a piece of her brain and developed a stomach ulcer as well as dropped her phone which she had to take in the next day to get a new screen. But in hindsight, lesson learned. The table had initially come with small little rails that were now attached, but she knew they wouldn't hold her for long as she started to move more.

The baby's interest in the teether didn't last long as she dropped it when she spotted another object on the floor that she wanted. She started to cry as her mother slid it away from her. Stephen was impressed at how Olivia didn't even stop her conversation with him as she picked up the pacifier from nearby and popped it into the baby's mouth, which caused the little girl to sigh contently as she hit her chubby little hands against her chubby little legs and finally seemed to realize that there was a human face on the computer screen, her response being reaching for the screen. Stephen smiled at his friend as she seemed a little more confident than the last time he had seen her. Though he had to admit it was weird seeing her like this, this domestic version of her, but she seemed happy, and that was all he had ever wanted for her.

"Make her laugh, Liv," he said, turning his attention back to the baby.

Olivia rolled her eyes playfully before blowing a raspberry into the baby's chubby little cheek, to which the child smiled before letting out a hearty giggle causing the two adults to laugh too.

"God I wish I was there to spoil her," he voiced.

"Why don't you have your own to spoil?" she asked him, fixing her eyes back on the screen. "I'm sure Georgia wants kids."

His mood changed suddenly as he looked away from the screen and opened his mouth seemingly to reply but let out a sorrowful sigh instead. "Georgia's out of town right now. She's visiting her mother."

Olivia squinted at him. Any other time that would draw no concern from her, but the matter in which he said it set of alarms. "Stephen," she said warningly, causing him to look back at the screen. "When will she be back?"

He took a moment to reply. "I don't know if she will."

"Oh, God," she said putting her hand to her forehead, then taking it down again. "What happened?" She was upset about the news. Probably more upset than the normal friend would be, but she wanted good things for Stephen, and Georgia was good for him. He was in love with her when he first left D.C. He had left because he was in love with her. She made him happy. She wanted him to be happy.

"It wasn't my fault," he defended reflexively. "She said I worked too much. I was too involved with my job and I didn't know how to 'come home'," he air quoted.

"Stephen," Olivia said defeated. This was why he had left OPA. This was why she had encouraged him to leave. The long hours they worked were not suitable for a stable family life. But honestly, people made that work. It was really the toxic nature of their work that made her encourage him to leave.

"This is not my fault Olivia," he told her. "I cut back my hours a lot from when we were in D.C. But she can't just expect me to stop working all together Liv."

"What exactly are you doing?" Olivia said giving him a doubtful look.

"I'm at the law firm," he replied, then paused before adding, "and doing some odd jobs on the side."

"Okay, no," she told him, ignoring the fact that someone had just walked through her door. She heard the keys, she knew it was Jake. "We talked about this."

"Well, you're still working," Stephen told her. Working implying that she was engaging with socio and psychopaths on a daily basis, "and you're still able to hold a home life together." He looked pass her, "Hello Jake."

"Hey, Stephen. How's it going?" he asked as he came up behind Olivia to take to baby.

"Good," the man on the computer replied. He was about to ask Jake how he was doing, but Olivia jumped in.

"No, it's not going good," Olivia corrected him before turning to Jake and telling him that it was not going 'good' as the man had implied. She then turned back to Stephen. "Your marriage is about to end."

Jake who was now looking at Olivia like she was insane by her reaction to the societal normal nicety he had extended to the man before looking at the computer screen out of the corner of his eye, sharing a look with the man. Stephen laughed and Jake shook his head and smiled. He had only met the man once but they had seemed to get along well, and he had found that Stephen was also well versed in the complexity that was Olivia. Jake kissed the baby on the cheek and then walked away, leaving the woman to finish her conversation with her friend.

"You know when I talk to my friends it's mostly so I can forget the shit hole that has become my marriage."

"Do you still love her?" she asked ignoring him.

"Of course I do," he told her, giving in to her determination to talk about this with him.

"Well then why are you just sitting her like you are giving up?" she asked him.

"Because I love her," he spoke loudly as if getting the courage to voice the thought out loud for the first time. "I love her, Liv. I just want her to be happy. And I can't make her happy," he confessed. "I know, I tried. I gave it all up, the law firm, the side jobs, even moved to a fucking suburb. I gave it all up for her. Then I was miserable, which made her miserable, so I started back, but that made her even more miserable." He looked at her with a sadness in his eyes she had never seen before. "I can't make her happy, Liv."

She stared back at the screen, feeling heartbroken for her friend. She didn't know what to do or say to make him feel better. "Why don't you come visit us for a bit," she suggested. "Get away from it all. Get a little perspective hopefully."

Stephen smiled at her. This was why he and Olivia were such good friends. The lives they led caused them to come into contact with a lot of screwed up people, which could serve to make a person cynical and withdrawn and insane, but they kept each other grounded because their friendship was one that normal people who were able to love and be loved usually had, though they were far from those people who found it easy to love and allow someone to love them. They cared for each other and they hurt for each other. They both just wanted the other to be content and happy, and they would do anything to facilitate that.

"Yeah?" Olivia asked seeing the smile on his face.

"Are you kidding me? Listen to that," he said referring to the laughing infant in the background. He and Olivia both laughed as it seemed her daughter was thoroughly amused by whatever was going on. "I'll call you back with the dates."

She was about to say something, but Jake walked back into the room asking if she needed him go and pick up anything for dinner. To which she told him no she had gotten everything on her way home but if he was going out, he could pick up a few more bottles of wine. He handed the baby back to her, before leaving out of the room again.

"You better," she replied. They said their goodbyes and she got up to go into the kitchen to prepare the Valentine's dinner she had promised herself since Abbie had bailed on her, and that she would allow Jake to partake in.

* * *

It was almost an hour later when she heard a knock at the door. She sighed and stepped back taking a look at her work in progress. She was proud of herself. She had actually done this without constantly calling Anna throughout or having Abbie there reading the recipe to her and asking her questions. It turned out she actually liked cooking. It was a stress reliever. She figured because for her, it usually involved a glass of wine, some back ground music and having her daughter sitting in her bumbo seat on top of the counter cooing at her and laughing when she did something she found amusing. Whoever it was at the door knocked again and she called out to them that she was coming. She picked the baby up from the seat and placed her in the swing that sat in the living room before making her way to the door. She figured it was Jake.

"I don't understand how you can leave the house and not take your…," she said stopping suddenly as she revealed that the man on the other side of the door was not Jake but the President of the United States.

They just stared at each other, her mouth hanging open as she was surprised to see him on tonight of all nights.

"I take it that means you're surprised to see me," he said taking her still holding the door open as an invitation to enter.

She watched him as he entered then looked back out into the hallway that was lined with secret service agents. She closed the door before asking him what he was doing at her apartment.

"Something smells good," he diverted. "Big plans tonight."

"Actually no," she told him. "Just like any other night. Why didn't you call first?"

"Really, like every other night?" he questioned with a raised eyebrow. "That's funny I don't remember you being a chef."

"Fitz," she said sternly. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you," he told her. She rolled her eyes. "I've been doing good natured publicity press all day and everyone has been asking me what are my plans for the night, and I wanted to tell them that I was going to be spending it with you. I have been thinking about you all day." He said walking towards her, stopping right in front of her. "I wanted to see you," he whispered, his face only centimeters away from her own. He then pressed his lips to hers and she surprised herself by kissing back. The kissed lasted a few more seconds before they pulled away, both of them breathing heavily. "I want to take you to Vermont."

She looked up into his eyes and she could feel the tears pooling her hers. She nodded her head gently before speaking. "I can't."

* * *

He was currently on his way back to her apartment. He had the wine, beer, a few other things from the grocery store, an arrangement of flowers, peach roses for traditional purposes and white calla lilies because they were Olivia's favorite, and a box of Swedish chocolates which it was surprising the old man at the floral shop had. He had decided to go into the store as he passed by deciding he want to get something nice for her since it was after all Valentine's Day. They had decided that it would just be a regular night, no expectations, no pressure, but he had wanted to do this for her. The old man had teased him playfully saying the reason why he stayed open so late on Valentine's Day was because every year he had some guy coming in beyond last minute, this year that guy was him. He had noticed the wedding band on the man's finger and asked if he wouldn't rather be with his wife. The man had replied that that was the other reason he spent most of the night in the shop. It was his wife's shop, she had died four years earlier and she had loved that shop. Had opened it forty something years ago when they had first gotten married. He had expressed his condolences to the man to which the man had replied by asking about the woman he was buying the flowers for. He had told the man a little about her and the man had replied that he could tell she was something special by the look he got in his eyes as he talked about her. "I used to get that same way with my wife," he had told him. He had then asked him to wait while he went into the back of the store. He came back with a box of expensive chocolates which sounded oddly familiar to him. The man had said they were from Switzerland and he remembered Olivia had a box that she had devoured during her eighth month of pregnancy. She had said that they were her favorite candy in the world and had finally gotten the motivation to hunt them down after craving them for a month straight. The man told him he only stocked them twice a year since they were really expensive to get shipped. That was his last box and he wanted to give them to him especially after hearing they were a favorite of the woman he had been talking about but Jake insisted on paying him something so they settled on half the price. He had then thanked the man and told him to have a nice night. He had then proceed to head back to her apartment figuring dinner should be finishing up and they might actually have time to get Adeline settled in for the night before they sat down to dinner if they tag teamed it. If not, they could always just let her hang out on the couch with them while they watched the horrible though classic movies Olivia had picked out.

The first sign that something was off was when he saw the two men standing in the lobby of her apartment building. He eyed them suspiciously as he got onto the elevator, already having an idea that he would find more of them on her floor. To no surprise he was greeted by six of them lining the hallway near her apartment.

"Sir, do you live on this floor?" One of them asked him, as they blocked his path off of the elevator.

He felt his skin growing hot at the man's defensive approach, but he tried to calm himself. He knew it was his job, but he also didn't like being approached in that manner and had been trained to react instinctively and violently to it, but he managed to keep his head about him as he stared at her apartment door.

"Sir, if you do not live on this floor or do not know anyone who does then I am going to have to ask you to return at a later time," the man said. "Now I am going to ask you again. Do you live on this floor?"

"No," he said. "No I don't." Sure he could make a scene, cause commotion, get the whole building shut down, possibly go to jail again and maybe even get some air time on the national new. But would it really be worth it? If Olivia couldn't see how much he was in love with her then doing all of that definitely wouldn't make her want to be with him.

He handed the man the flowers and the chocolates. The man looked at him as if he was crazy. He nodded at the door. "Give them to her once the president leaves," he told him causing the man to squint at him as if he wasn't supposed to know that the POTUS was inside. The man took the flowers and chocolates. He then dug through the grocery bag and pulled out the six pack of beer before handing him the grocery bag. "This too."

He then hit the button for the lobby and took the elevator back down.

* * *

She sighed inwardly as she opened the door to allow Fitz to exit. She was relieved as she thought she had gotten him to leave before Jake actually got back. She said her goodbyes to him and promised him that she would stop avoiding the white house from here on out. She was about to close the door but the secret service man informed her that another guy had dropped by during their visit. At first she was confused upon seeing the flowers and candy but she realized that it had been Jake who had left the items as the grocery bag contained the wines she had asked for as well as a few items they had run out of earlier in the week. She closed the door and carried the stuff into the kitchen where she had left her phone. She sat everything on the counter and turned off the fire under the dinner she had been preparing before picking up her phone and calling him. She was surprised but pleased that he had actually answered on her first try.

"Hello?" he greeted her, which was a little more formal than his usual 'Hey, what's up?'

"Hey," she said in an unsure voice. "Where are you?"

"I'm," he was about to say his apartment which was a lie, he was about to say on his way to meet friends which was the truth, but that would just open up the subject for further discussion and if he was being honest, he really didn't want to have this or pretty much any conversation with her right now, which was one of the reasons why he was going out with his single friends so he could drink in a more socially acceptable way and not sitting at home feeling not great about his relationship with her. "Out," he decided to tell the truth but not get into too much detail.

She paused waiting to see if he would elaborate more. He didn't. "Well, what time are you coming back?" There was no need to ask why he hadn't come back, she knew why and she knew he knew she knew.

"I think I'm probably going to spend the night at my place," he told her.

"Jake," she tried.

"You don't owe me an explanation Olivia," he said cutting her off.

She wanted say so many things. She wanted to say she was sorry but she honestly felt that the word had become obsolete seeing as it was so carelessly and meaninglessly thrown around. She wanted to tell him that Fitz was gone and she hadn't had sex with him, but that just sounded desperate from either end. She wanted to tell him to just come back to her apartment but she knew that that wouldn't' work this time. So she stayed silent, though she wanted so badly to say something. She just couldn't find the words.

"I'll be over tomorrow morning to pick up Addie before you leave for work," he said before quietly hanging up.

She sat the phone down on the coffee table, fighting the urge to pick it up and dial his number again. She felt tears coming to her eyes but refused to let them fall. She wanted to call Abbie and ask her to come over because she really just wanted somebody to talk to and tell her that she hadn't just destroyed her relationship with the father of her child. She didn't want to disturb Abbie's night and she couldn't call Anna because she specifically remember her saying she had a show tonight and Quinn was doing some weird thing with Charlie and Huck was with Kim, not that he would be much help in a situation like this anyways. She could call Stephen back but she actually wanted someone there with her physically. She could call Fitz back, pack up her baby and head to Vermont for a couple of days but for some reason that thought just made her grow angrier with herself.

She looked over to the swing and saw that Adeline had fallen asleep. She suddenly felt down and no longer wanted to carry out her traditional single on Valentine's Day plans. She turned the television off, made sure all of the kitchen appliances were turned off, grabbed a bottle of wine and the baby. She dropped the bottle of wine off at her bed side and laid Adeline in the her bassinet, before turning off the rest of the lights save for the lamp next to her bed. She then took a shower and got into her pajamas, slowly consuming the bottle of wine as she lie in bed alone with her thoughts.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed. Leave reviews. Sorry about the rant at the top. I just start thinking of stuff when I'm writing. And thanks to it being to hot to do anything outside I've been able to finish this chapter I was supposed to finish like 2 weeks ago. And sorry about the back and forth between Olivia and Fitz but I am trying to keep them in character, but this won't last for long I promise as I know first hand, it can get tiring and boring witnessing this.**

**My ultimate gold for this story is to get to a point where I can start doing one shots that occur after this story ends. I just have to get to that point... I may end up splitting this story up into two or three parts because we still have to bring Mya in. I am sorry, spoiler alert but by the end of this Mya will be free and hopefully involved in Olivia's life (hopefully it goes that way on the actual show as well.)**

**Also I am being mentally lazy now and really just want to get this posted so I will proofread this later. Anybody want to be a beta?**


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: Alright, this Scandal hiatus is driving me insane. I'm starting to feel sorry for people I shouldn't feel sorry for. Like Tom. So there are a few songs out right now that reminds me of Olake, one being Cheerleader and the other being Mama by David Guetta and Nicki, especially the part when she's like "So baby when you need that, give me the word I'm no good, I'll be bad for my baby. Make sure that he's getting his share, make sure that his baby take care." Every time I hear that part I think about her having Tom shanked and I'm like she didn't have to snatch Tom up like that, lmao. She could've thought of another way to get Jake out of jail. Then I start laughing even harder. I liked Tom and I still do like him, but he wasn't as real as I thought he would be when crunch time came. He tried to sell Jake up the river so Liv had his ass shanked

Also a scandal related discussion I had with two friends, one not a Jalivia fan the other one is.I will be paraphrasing.

Non Jalivia friend: Like, I don't understand why ya'll like him Fitz came first. How could you not like Olivia with Fitz?

Me: Cause he kinda ain't shit.

Non Jalivia friend: But I mean he is still better than Jake. Fitz is just better over all.

Jalivia Friend: Let me put it this way. Would you rather bring the dude to the family gathering that's gonna yell out "yeah that's why I screwed her real good" if a family member starts questioning if he's good enough for you or would you rather bring the dude that's gonna be like, "but I love her. Com'on ya'll that has to count for something."

She got quiet then gonna look at me. I just did the Foxy head tilt. Then we went to get ice cream. Lol. I think we are slowly turning her team Jalivia. She know Fitz ain't shit, it just some people can't accept that they are wrong and that they've been duped when it comes to their opinion of a person. But that's okay, go down with that ship cause I plan on going down with mine.

Enjoy the next chapter.

* * *

He sighed as he stepped off of the elevator still rubbing his eyes. He really shouldn't have stayed out so late the night before, but he had. He had actually ended up having a little fun hanging out with his friends from the gym. It actually hadn't turned out to be one big mopefest, mostly because his friends didn't let him mope for too long. They were all half way drunk by the time he showed up so their sense of personal space and respecting his privacy and his wishes to not have too much fun were a little inhibited. He hadn't drank as much as them though, but he was still tired from staying out so late. Hopefully his daughter would go down for an early nap.

His hopes were slashed when Olivia opened the door holding the little girl. She saw him and a smile came to her face as she immediately starting kicking her feet and moving her arms around. He was tired but he couldn't help the smile that came to his face as he reached for the child to take her from her mother who was clearly in the middle of trying to get herself together to leave the house.

"Hi," Olivia greeted him.

"Hi," he greeted back bouncing the baby up and down in his arms. "Where's her things?" He instantly hated the way that rolled off of his tongue. It sounded like he was being short with her and wanted to get away from her, but it was just awkward. He honestly didn't know what he was supposed to say. 'How was your night?'

She gave him a once over, letting him know it did sound as dry as he thought it had, before replying quietly that she still had to finish getting her things together. She walked back into her apartment and he followed. "I thought you were going to stay here with her," she told him, trying to see if she could tease out of him if he planned on staying at her apartment anytime soon.

"Naw we'll go back to my place," he told her as he wiped the drool from the baby's mouth with the bib she had on. "You wanna hang out at Daddy's place?" The baby only smiled as she reached for his face.

Olivia looked on in silence clutching the stuffed rabbit in her hand. She wanted to say something, but saying something would mean that she would have to go through the discussion of her and Fitz and that was never an easy discussion to have especially with Jake. He looked up and caught her staring at him to which she responded by turning around and placing the stuffed animal into the bag that was on the couch, along with some other things she thought would be needed.

She finished packing the bag and picked it up. She turned around and lifted her arm towards him. He took a step forward and took it with his free hand. She then went to get the little coat and hat to put on the baby for the short trip to his apartment that she wanted to burn down though she had never even been there before.

"You want the stroller?" she asked him.

"No, I can carry her," he replied.

She finished buttoning up the coat and took a step back from him. "You want me to pick her up from your place or you gonna bring her back here?"

"I can bring her back. Just give me a call when you get home," he said.

"Jake," she said, growing tired of beating around the bush, "you do know that you can stay here?"

He gave her a sad smile. "Yeah, Liv. But I think I'm just going to stay at my place for a while."

"Why?" she asked growing angry. She wanted him there, she was letting him know that she wanted him there as best she could at the moment, and he was still declining.

He shrugged, trying to be calm but not too nonchalant about it. He must have failed because when he said, "I just think it would be better that way?"

She folded her arms and took a defensive stance, "Well I don't think that it is. I think you're being ridiculous."

He just stared at her for a moment. "How am I being ridiculous? Because when I come home at the end of the day I actually like to be able to come in side, sit on my couch, watch television and have a few beers without being harassed by some idiots in a suits because someone with boundary issues decided that they wanted to occupy a space that I usually call my own. No thanks, I like having a little bit more control over my life than that."

"That's not," she started but realized that was almost exactly what had happened. So she changed her tactics, "You could've called," she told him, "to let me know you were back. I would have told him to leave."

He gave her a look that said he either didn't believe her or that she actually had the ability to make him leave, which she took offense to both. "So you're going to leave just like that?"

"I'm not leaving," he told her. "I'm a block away."

"But you're not here," she told him.

"That's because," he was the first one to notice that they were starting raise their voices so he decided to reign it back in. "Look Olivia, clearly you need some time, some space to figure this out."

"Oh, so now you're going to tell me what's best for me?" she questioned him.

"No, that's not what I'm…," he stopped himself and redirected again. "I'm moving back into my apartment. I will be at you're beck and call wherever Adeline is concerned, but we can't keep doing this. I can't keep doing this. If you want to sit around waiting for someone who isn't available I can't stop you from doing that, and I do love you, but it's unfair of you to ask me to go through what you've gone through. If you cared about me even a little bit, you wouldn't want me to."

She could feel the tears in her eyes, and she was developing a painful lump in her throat remembering all the nights she had cried and worried herself to sleep over Fitz and their inability to be together. Lying in her bed alone while she pictured him warm and cuddled up next to Mellie. She also had not missed the subtle jab that people who cared about other people wouldn't ask them to sacrifice what Fitz had and was currently asking her to sacrifice. She didn't want to lose Jake either, she wanted him there with her, and the thought that she could lose what they had had forever was almost suffocating her.

She was too much inside of her own head to prevent her next thought from being voiced out loud. "What happens if I decide I want to be with you?" She even surprised herself when she heard it out loud but none the less it was out there now, and she wanted answers. She looked up at him and saw that he was still looking at her. Adeline was looking back and forth between them with an unsure look on her face.

He looked down at the floor, contemplating her words before looking back up at her. "I guess we'll see where we are if that happens. Hopefully we're both in a place where we're ready for each other," he finished sadly.

He wasn't going to lie to her. He wasn't going to go hop in bed with the first thing he saw but he also wasn't going to sit around waiting for her, because honestly he thought he would die waiting. He deserved to be happy too, but even more so his daughter deserved to have a happy father that was content with his life so he could focus on providing her with everything that she needed. He wouldn't lie to himself either, he wasn't in the place he would like to have been for Addie and neither for Olivia. Sure he could make it work but since it wasn't currently working, he would focus on getting where he wanted and needed to be in his life for his daughter. And if by some miracle Olivia found a way to break free of the life sucker that was Fitzgerald Grant III and decided that she wanted to be with him he would hope that he would be in a better place for it, but if in the meantime he met someone, he wouldn't push her away either.

He turned quietly and exited the apartment, leaving her standing there alone.

* * *

"See you Thursday Olivia," Erin said as she walked away from the storage area of the building. "Bye sweetie," she said smiling as she passed a finger in Adeline's little palm.

"Bye," Olivia smiled at her as she walked away.

She had just finished a Mommy and Me class with Adeline, but had to do a quick diaper change before heading out. She had initially joined the class after finding a brochure for the place at her pediatrician's office. She wasn't really interested at first but after reading and seeing that it was good for a babies social, mental development as well as every other development one would be able to think of, she decided it would be a good idea. Definitely better than only having her little girl come into contact with the people at the white house or the people that showed up in her office

She finished putting Adeline's little sweater on her and walked towards the counter to pay for the next month. She tried to go at least twice a week. She would have liked to go more but work got in the way and she often had to delay things to make the classes she did make.

"I'd like to pay for the month of April," she told the girl behind the counter, trying to keep a firm hold on the little girl and simultaneously dig through her bag for her wallet.

She was actually happy that she had joined the class. She found it a lot more useful than she thought it would for both her and Adeline. Not only did Adeline get to interact with other babies her age but there were also specific classes catered towards her age group that concentrated on everything from physical to mental development. And it was fun to see the different things that her baby was quickly learning to do, like when she first surprised herself by rolling over from her tummy onto her back. She had been trying to get to a toy she wanted and ended up scaring herself when she flipped all the way around and ended up looking at the ceiling, her eyes wide for a second before she realized she was okay. Now that was common. The little girl could roll both ways and the movement specialist even said that she would start scooting soon, which she didn't think she was ready for as she partially relied on her daughter's lack of physical ability to keep her out of harm's way. She found new ways to play with her baby, and actually felt like she was being a proactive mother and maximizing the tools at her disposal to better her baby's future. She had also met a few people she actually liked. People like whom she hadn't associated with in a while. People who were just living their lives with no life changing scandal threatening to destroy them at any moment or who were trying to prevent one of these scandals from destroying someone's life.

"That'll be one hundred dollars even," the girl said as Olivia opened her wallet to retrieve her credit card. Before she could find it the woman spoke again. "Ms. Pope?"

She looked up and was met by a familiar face. "Lauren?" The woman smiled letting her know she was correct and actually surprised that the woman had remembered her. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm getting my masters in child development," she said with a genuine smile on her face. She seemed happy, Olivia wasn't used to seeing her without a tense, stressed look on her face.

"I thought you were a political science major?" Olivia questioned as she adjusted Adeline on her hip.

"Yeah, I have a Ph.D in poly sci, but I double majored back in undergrad. I know, two completely different fields, but my initial plan was to get a foot in the door politically, become a senator or something and a huge advocate for education, child development and impoverished children. I'm a lot more competent and involved than anyone at the white house gave me credit for," she joked with a smile.

Olivia was still a little confused. She seemed so happy and bubbly. "What are you doing working here?"

"Well it turns out I was wrong about working at the white house as a stepping stone. I hated working there. I was miserable. So I decided to take a different route. I needed to internship somewhere to earn credits for my masters," she finished deciding to cut her story short.

"Hmm," Olivia said processing it all. She handed her card to the woman as she continued to stare at her. She knew Lauren, and she knew Lauren knew a lot of things. Now she also knew that Lauren enjoyed working with children. The idea slowly started coming together in her head.

The woman handed her back her card. "Hey cutie," she said to Adeline who was just staring at her. "You know I heard you were having a baby a while back, but I didn't believe it, but oh my gosh, she's so adorable." She rubbed her index finger in a gentle motion against Adeline's shoulder earning a toothless grin from the child.

"How much do you get paid here Lauren?" Olivia asked causing the woman to withdraw her hand from the child and a similar stressed look to come to her face as when she was working at the white house.

Olivia instantly caught herself. She knew she was going to have to sell this as the woman had insinuated that she currently wanted nothing to do with the white house or anyone she had met while working there. She wanted to hire Lauren to be Adeline's nanny. She was perfect for the job. She was interested in working with children, educated in child development, and Olivia already knew enough about her to start trusting her enough to leave Adeline alone with her. Not to mention she had worked a few years behind the walls of the white house and knew a lot of explosive stuff, and as far as Olivia knew, she had kept her mouth shut. Just the type of characteristic she was looking for in a nanny she would allow to hang around OPA.

"Excuse me?" Lauren asked, hearing the Olivia Pope voice turn on.

"I'm sorry," she instantly apologized. She smiled, and switched her tone and tactics. "I'm looking for a nanny for my daughter. I was just asking you how much you get paid so I could make sure the pay would be worth it."

"Miss Pope, not to be rude or anything, but I really don't think that," the woman tried.

"Look Lauren, you're back in school. I personally know how costly that can be. I also know how much I spend to attend the classes here and you can't be getting paid that much for working here. Is it even a paid internship?" she asked, but didn't allow her time to answer. "I also know how much money you were making at the white house, so I know that is a financial hit to go from there to here and then add on top of that the cost of school. I can only imagine. All I'm proposing is that I pay you more money than most students would even dream of to take care of an extremely adorable, sweet little girl and gain another accomplishment to add to your CV. You can even keep your job here."

She just looked at Lauren as she could tell when she was talking she had the woman interested. Lauren just continued to look back and forth between her and the baby. She couldn't decide if it was worth it to toss herself back into this chaos. She didn't know the paternity of Olivia's daughter, but she had a strong feeling about it.

"I don't know Ms. Pope," she said hesitantly. She wanted to take the job, she really wanted to. She knew the pay would be good, and God did she need it. Olivia also made a point about being able to add it to her CV. Hell she might even be able to gain some credit in school for it. "I'm not going to one day find myself in the middle of a news story about the white house and the affairs that go on there am I?" She was trying to be subtle, to not be offensive, but she needed to know what she was getting herself into.

Olivia squinted her eyes. Yes, she was a little offended, but she also knew that the woman had grounds on which to base her questioning. She had lied to herself many times about Lauren and other white house staff being oblivious to her affair with Fitz, but in the back of her mind she knew that the woman wasn't that dense.

She pulled out her phone and pulled up a picture of Jake and Adeline she had taken not too long ago. "This is my daughter's father," she said holding the phone up to the woman who looked at her for a second before turning her eyes to the screen. "See they have the same color eyes," she said in a snarky tone, trying to convince the woman that she wasn't lying to her but still being a little upset that the question had even come up, even if not directly. "So do you want the job or not," she said putting her phone down on the counter.

Lauren looked at Olivia before looking back at the baby who was quietly sucking on her pacifier. She did resemble the man in the picture some though she mostly like oped like her mother and there had been that story about her leaving the country for a while. She quickly did the math in her head. It could be possible that the woman was nowhere near the president when the child was conceived but she didn't know exactly how old the little girl was.

"Lauren, if I wanted someone to question the paternity of my child I would have gone to the media," she told her. "I can promise you this. If you are thrown into middle of a media whirlwind about anything to do with the white house, my daughter will not be the cause of it."

Lauren looked at the little girl one more time. "Okay," she said. "How much and what are the details?"

After she finished explaining everything to Lauren and promising her that they would work something out when she actually had to be in a class room or somewhere else where the baby couldn't be, which the girl assured her was rare given her topic of study, the woman accepted the job.

She then put the little hood on Adeline's head and proceeded to walk out of the building. She had only made it a few feet before she was stopped dead in her tracks. She could feel her heart rate and her breathing speed up.

"What do you want?" she asked him. The man only smiled at her. A smile which she had learned to hate because it never meant anything good for her. The smile scared the hell out of her, it was akin to Freddy Krueger waving his blade enhanced hand at her.

He gave her a look of disbelief and feigned surprise at her would be rudeness if it were anyone else. "I can't stop by to see my daughter and my granddaughter."

Olivia adjusted Adeline bringing her closer to her and turning her away from her father. "You were stalking me," she told him, "again."

"Noo," he said as if he wasn't a threat. "I just wanted to see you," he said as he reached his hand out to touch the baby.

She instinctively backed away from him and kept her eyes trained on him, looking for the first sign of heightened danger. Eli, not wanting to cause a scene in public, backed off. He just looked at her with a forced smile. "Why don't we go somewhere and have dinner?" he said. "That way we can catch up and I can spend time with my beautiful granddaughter."

He reached out his hand again, aiming for the baby. This time she knocked it away causing the smile to finally disappear from his face.

"I don't' think so, Dad," she said sarcastically. "You said that you were out of my life," she reminded him. "What happened?"

He just stared at her before taking a few steps closer and replying through clinched teeth, "Just know whatever it is that you are planning isn't going to go the way you think it will. You are going to get a whole lot of people killed Olivia, trying to play these games with me. I have told you to stay out of this. This is your last warning."

She looked him in the eye trying to appear unmoved by his words, but the truth was she was terrified. She didn't think that her father would physically harm her. He never had, even when she was a child. He had refused to spank her. When she was a little girl she had thought it was because that he had loved her so much he couldn't fathom striking his little girl, but she now knew it was because he would rather screw with her mind and cause more pain and anxiety than any spanking could. He took pride in it. And the thing that scared her most was not the fact that her father would physically harm her but that he would have her little girl taken away and she would go insane searching for her only to never see her again. But she was also angry. She was tired of him trying to control her life and the thought that he would one day try to do it to her child made her even angrier.

After he was finished sneering at her, he walked away without another word. She stood there for a few moments trying to calm herself down. She grabbed her phone and went to her contacts before picking a number and pressing the call button. She put the phone up to her ear and let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding when she finally heard his voice come over the speaker.

"Are you home?" she asked him.

"Yeah, why?" he asked.

"I was thinking Adeline and I could drop by there for a little bit instead of you coming over to my place."

She had made arrangements with Jake for him to stop by to see Adeline since he hadn't seen her all day, but she didn't want to head straight back to her apartment since her father had spooked her. She could steel feel her nerves on end, like she had woke from a horrible dream and couldn't shake the feeling that the danger was still there hidden somewhere in the dark.

"Uhh, yeah, sure," he replied. "Com'on over."

* * *

"Heey," Jake said throwing his hands in the air after opening the door. She figured the exaggerated hello was more for that baby who was now grinning at him and waving her little arm up and down than her. Not that they weren't on good terms. They were actually good. It had been a month since he moved out and though it had taken her a while to get used to the idea, she was starting to accept it.

She smiled as she allowed him to take the baby from her arms. She followed him into the living room and sat her bags down in the arm chair, taking off her coat and throwing it over the back of the chair.

"What have you been up to all day?" she asked him as she headed for the kitchen. He followed her.

He shrugged. "Not much," he told her. "What about you? You and David still trying to put that case together against your dad?"

"I don't know," she said going through the wines in his wine holder, trying to remain nonchalant at the mention of her father "you gonna testify?'

"If I think you put together a good case," he joked with her as he took a seat at the bar.

"You got the good stuff this time," she said as she turned around holding up one of the bottles, and wanting to deflect their conversation away from her father. She had come over to feel safe, not to stress out even more. "Glad to finally see you're catching on."

"How could I not?" he said. "I was stuck on an island for two months with an insane person who kept cancelling my beer orders just so she could force me to drink her choice of wine."

She laughed but didn't admit to it as she went through his drawers searching for the wine opener. They continued with their small talk and joking until Adeline was in need of a diaper change, to which Jake told her that she brought the funk in with her on purpose so it was her diaper to change. She asked him for wipes when she saw she had no more in her bag and he directed her towards the nursery.

He was about to follow her, just because he was happy to have her in his apartment for the second time ever since she seemed to be refusing to come there which was why he was surprised when she had called, but his phone chimed.

He picked it up and looked at it and saw that it was a message from Danny. He also saw that he had a missed text from Parker, a friend of his. She had texted to say that she was on her way over to drop off the jacket he had loaned her when they went out the other night. He was about to text her back telling her that he would get it later, but before he could he got a text saying that she was on her way up to his apartment. His initial reaction for the first second was to panic, but then he realized he had nothing to panic about. Although Olivia could be a little territorial even if it wasn't her territory. Bottom line the woman was a little demanding which was something he loved about her but also something they got into it about every now and then.

Soon there was a knock on the door. He sighed as he sat the phone down and walked over to the door. He opened it to reveal the smiling blond in her nurse's uniform.

"Hey," she said enthusiastically.

"Hey Parker," he said leaning down to hug her. "Com'on in." He could have just taken the jacket and closed the door on her but seeing as how the woman was still clutching the jacket to her and hadn't handed it to him yet, let him know that she expected to be invited inside.

Parker was a really nice person and they had met and Daniel's gym. She was a pediatric nurse, extremely nice and charming, a good sense of humor and he would be lying if he said he wasn't attracted to both her personality and physicality. He didn't have feelings for her, but he did enjoy spending time with her.

"Here's your coat," she said. "Sorry I meant to bring it back a few days ago, but I've been working late."

He was about to tell her that it was okay and that he had company, but before he could say anything, he heard Olivia coming towards them.

"How did you get this?" she said holding up an infant's dress she thought she had misplaced. "I've been looking all…," she stopped short when she saw the blond woman that she remembered seeing flirting with him at the gym a few months ago. What she didn't understand was why she was there.

* * *

A/N: Another note. I saw this lil boy get snatched up by his momma on the train and I couldn't help but to laugh because he was just so happy one second before and it brought me back to my childhood. You ever try to brace yourself against your mama and comply with her demand to come to her at the same time lmmfao. She pointed at him then made the come here gesture with that same finger. He had this look on his face like, he was confused. He knew what was about to happen in general but he didn't know how it was coming. So he scooting closer to her I guess trying not to give her too much access to himself, and he got his hand on his chest trying to brace for whatever about to come. So she grabs his shirt and he grab his shirt too and the whole time he looking her in the eyes like this heffa crazy, I don't know what she about to do to me, let me try to read her incase she snap forreal this time. LOL.

I know 2 back to back chapters. Now I have to go write like 17 chapters for my other story since Its getting more reviews and I feel bad about not updating for a while. Reviews welcomed and appreciated.


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: So I'm writing on my other story and I have a good bit written and what happens...my freaking lap top dies. Not even blue screen of death dies, like I no longer respond to electricity of batter current dies. So I got frustrated at the other story and decided to write another chapter for this story on the new lap top which I did not have the money to buy but I needed it least I not have a job. *Sad sigh*

I want my Fall TV shows back and I want them now. I always do so well up until around this time then I just lose it. Ugh...I need Mama Pope and Cookie and all of their kids, exes, and their kid's friends lol.

* * *

"I hope you're opening the good stuff tonight because I need it," Abby said as she walked inside of her friend's apartment.

"Why?"Olivia closed the door behind her friend. "What happened?"

"Nothing. I just hate all those fuckers. I can't believe I let you talk me into..." Abby said walking into her living room. "Hey my love!"

She immediately went from arguing to talking sweetly to the baby. "Oh, my god look at you. I just want to stay here and cuddle you and never go back to that god awful hell hole."

Olivia watched as Abby hugged her daughter. The smile now gone from the baby's face as she seemed to try to figure out why she was being loved on so aggressively.

"It's not that bad Abby," Olivia told her, leaning against the door frame to her living room. Her friend was being dramatic.

"That's easy for you to say," Abby told her. "You actually get to be with people you actually like from time to time. While I'm stuck in the white house with all those assholes. Do you even understand how much I hate them Olivia? Do you? I hate them."

Abby snapped and Olivia would have laughed because it was borderline comical, but one she wasn't in the best of moods herself and two she didn't want to offend her friend because she knew that she was being serious.

"Alright," Olivia said nonchalantly. "I get it, you hate them. Can you just not make my daughter cry?"

Abby looked at the baby who was looking at her with a pouty face, tears welling in her big hazel eyes. "Oh, no. No, no. Not you sweetie," Abby said hugging the baby to her again. "I could never hate you, You are like the best thing that has happened to me all day. I actually wanted to be your nanny, but your mommy wouldn't let me."

Olivia smiled. "Did you, or did you not want wine?"

Abby looked down at the baby's face and saw that the little girl was no longer on the verge of tears. She let out a sigh. "Definitely want wine."

With that the two women headed into the kitchen.

"Do you feel better?" Olivia said walking back into the living room. She had just come from putting Adeline down for the night, but she could still hear the little girl babbling over the monitor, likely to the stuffed animals that hung above her crib. She would either tire herself out soon, or summon her mother back to her crib-side with her wails. She couldn't get a set bedtime for this girl, no matter how hard she tried. It was mostly due to her own hectic schedule, but she had made a commitment to do just that. In bed every night at the same time, sleepy or not. She would only go back into the room if she started crying and that was just to soothe her until she would lay quietly in her bed again. At least that's what the article on the website had said to do. So far it had been working, and by working she meant the that baby was asleep by ten for the past week and only woke once around four or five am for a feeding, which was manageable and awesome and it made her wish that she had committed to this earlier.

"Mmm," was the woman's reply as she had just sipped some wine into her mouth. "Much," she said after swallowing.

"Good," Olivia flopped down on the couch and picked up her own glass.

"I still hate them though, I just don't feel it as much." Olivia picked up the remote. "No news," Abby demanded. "If I'm gonna sit here with you all night, I am not going to watch the news. Why am I sitting here with you anyway?"

Abby loved her friend and she knew her friend loved her. She also knew that they both loved spending time together and though she was happy to be here she was suspicious of the circumstances that had caused her friend to call her and invite her over. She could tell it was a last minute invite and she sounded a little down on the phone, and she still didn't seem to be in the best of moods.

"Sorry, would your rather be with Leo?" Olivia sked. Abbie rolled her eyes at the mention of the man's name. Even that bastard got on her nerves more often than not.

"No, what I would rather is you tell me what's going on with you," Abby told her. She knew something was up, and she knew Olivia was trying to avoid saying it. But she also knew that she wanted to talk about it with her or else she wouldn't have invited her over.

Olivia just shook her head and turned back to the television. Abbie stared at her a little longer before doing the same.

"Jake went out on a date," she blurted out before taking a long sip of wine.

Abby just looked back at her. "And you let him?" Was the red head's reply.

"How was I supposed to stop him?" She asked her.

"Wh...I don't know," Abby said sitting up on the couch. "Did you threaten her?"

Olivia gave her a look. "I don't just go around threatening women because they are dating a man that I'm...involved with."

"Amanda Tanner," Abby blurted out before she was able to stop herself.

Olivia took the wine glass down from her mouth and just looked at her in disbelief. She couldn't believe that she brought that up. She had tried to right that wrong, not soon enough though and she had failed ultimately.

"I'm sorry, it's the wine," Abby said setting her glass on the coffee table. "I shouldn't have said that."

They both remained silent as they turned back to the television. It was on some type of kiddie cartoon that had obviously been meant for Adeline. Neither of them were really watching it as they were both lost in their own thought.

"So he went on a date huh?" Abby said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah," Olivia said, not taking her eyes off of the television.

"How do you feel about that?"

"I'm not thrilled about it," she said. "I don't think that I really like her."

"Wait," Abby said sitting up again, "you met her?"

"Briefly," Olivia confessed.

"What does she look like? Is she hideous?" Abby asked with a devious smile.

"No," Olivia said sadly. "She's pretty, and young. And I hate her," she mumbled the last part.

This was why Olivia had invited Abbie over, she needed someone to vent to about this. She was feeling a certain way about Jake's new fling and she didn't know what to make of it or how to deal with it. So unfortunately she went for the most immature way of handling it, inviting her friend over and whining about it while bashing the both of them.

Abby smiled. "Oh my god, Liv, are you jealous?"

"No, I'm not jealous," Olivia lied. "I just, want him to do what I want him to do."

Abby laughed and she couldn't help but to follow as those words sounded so much more immature out loud, not that she didn't mean it partially. She wanted Jake to be happy but she also didn't know if him being with someone else would make her unhappy in the long run. Bottom line, like she had inferred to him. She didn't want to decide that he was the one she wanted to be with and then have him unavailable, then she'd be kicking herself for pushing him away. Because no matter how convinced he was that she would chose Fitz, she wasn't as convinced. She knew that because if she was, she wouldn't be feeling the way she was about him being out on a date with someone else.

"Well, Liv, you can't just expect the guy to sit around and wait for you to finishing putzing around with Fitz," Abby told her.

"I'm not putzing around," she countered, slightly offended.

"Really? Do we need to look up the definition of putzing?" Abby offered. Olivia responded by turning her head back towards the television and bringing the wine glass up to her mouth. "Liv, you have been doing the exact same thing for the past seven and a half years. It's like a bad cycle. And believe me, I know about those."

"Okay, it's not," Olivia said shaking her head. She was trying to find the right words to say that it was nothing like the cycle between her friend and her ex husband without sounding too offensive.

"Oh it's a cycle, and quite frankly I'm tired of watching it. First it's the honey moon phase where you find a few days here and there to actually be together and be happy and pretend that the rest of the world doesn't exist. Then the real world gets in the way of that and you get sad because you realize that this is the actual reality of the situation. Then he does something stupid, then you take turns getting mad at each other, and then you stop talking to him completely because you do realize it's a vicious cycle that's making you depressed, then he realizes that you're not talking to him and either comes crawling back to you or threatens suicide," Olivia cut her off.

"Abby, that's not fair," she told her.

"Yes it is, Liv, and if it's not I don't care. I don't care about being fair to him because fuck him. He's an asshole and I put up with him because of you and it's a steady paycheck for me but I hate him. You're my friend not him and I am tired of seeing you like this. You have given up some of the best years of your life waiting on this selfish fuck. Do you know what he was doing in his thirties Liv? He was focusing on what he wanted. He was making moves to become president, he was starting a family, he was marrying the woman he loved and he expects you to sit around waiting on him. No, fuck that. Fuck him. I say he's not available to give you want and need from him then move the hell on. If for whatever reason you're not available when he finally gets his shit together, well then, it's just his turn to wait on you."

Abby started to sip from her glass again, while Olivia remained quiet. She always got quiet when someone told the truth about Fitz, because she knew they were telling the truth and she had no rebuttal. "And you're not going to say anything."

"What do you want me to say, Abby? I'm stuck," she confessed. "I'm stuck. I feel like everyone...the world is going on without me. Everyone's finding and living their lives. And I'm just stuck here waiting to begin the next phase of mine. You think I want to be stuck here in this god forsaken place surrounded by people who I can't turn my back to without them trying to stab me in it. You don't think I want to be free of this?"

Abby looked at her friend as she placed her glass down and wiped the tears away from her eyes. She wanted to hug her, she really did because she hated seeing her hurt like this, but she wasn't sure what good that would do as the woman would probably jump right back into the same cycle the next day. So she decided to be truthful with her.

"So be free of it Olivia," she said as if it was the most obvious thing. And in many ways it was.

"If I knew how to do that Abby, don't you think I would have done that a long time ago," she said as tears continued to roll down her face.

"It's not that hard. You just have to decided to not be involved with anyone," Abby said trying to explain what she meant as best she could. "It's going to hurt letting go of that...idea and that life that you've built mentally, and it's supposed to, but it'll stop one day. The plus side to this is that you know that it's going to stop hurting one day, you can't be too sure of that if you keep holding on to it."

Olivia ran her hand through her hair, pushing her hair out of her face. She wiped her eyes, but tears continued to flow, for everything. Here she was trying to deal with the possibility of losing one person she cared about and her friend was telling her to let go of another. Though she would be lying if she said what the woman was saying didn't make sense. Break-ups hurt, ever since she was fifteen years old. But she got over them, surely she would get over this one too.

"Maybe you just need to be alone for a while without trying to be with anyone, or thinking about being with anyone...figure things out, get your head on straight. Find yourself again," Abby suggested as she finally reached over to rub her friends back.

Actually what Abby was saying sounded like a great idea. She felt like she had gotten her first breath of fresh air in years just by entertaining the idea. If she was honest with herself, not only was she stuck, she was lost. A lot of times she would find herself doing things that was foreign to her and she would scare for a second and think when did she become that person, because she didn't necessarily like that person. And she would often times find her inner voice scolding her for giving into the pressures of the world and not being true to herself and letting other people steal her happiness. Either way, she had a decision to make. She could go on as she was hoping that the tides would turn and she could be a happier more fulfilled person or she could take matters into her own hands and actively pursue her happiness and fulfillment.

* * *

"Here give her to me," Jake said as Olivia expressed that she needed to run to the restroom. They were at one of the most popular brunch spots in their area which meant they had to stand in line. Abby and Olivia had decided to meet up for brunch and Jake had joined them since he had wanted to see the baby but didn't know if he would have a chance later, so he would take her after their brunch and hand her back over to Liv sometime in the afternoon. "Wrap me up," he continued with a smile, which brought a smile to Olivia's face.

He held out his arms and she handed Adeline to Abby before she unwrapped the material from around her and proceeded to wrap it around him. She had been trying forever to get him to wear the wrap, and though he was agreeing to it jokingly, she would not miss the chance to get him wrapped up in the thing. She had told him it was almost like still being pregnant, which turns out was really convenient since she was already used to it. He had replied that he didn't think that was something he would ever need to experience.

"Glad you finally see things my way," Olivia told him as she finished tying the wrap. She then proceeded to take Adeline and help him secure her to his chest.

"Yeah, this girl told me she thought it was hot," he said, still trying to adjust the straps and the baby to make it most comfortable for him.

Abby gave Olivia a look implying that she better not say anything. Something had happened over the past week. After her conversation with Abby, Olivia had decided to do just what they had talked about and take some time to be single, uninvolved, and find herself again. Now she had taken this vow many times, but had never really kept or had any success with it. This time however, she had had new motivation to succeed, her daughter. She would have been lying if she said she felt like a part of her postpartum depression didn't stem from her feeling like she would be a crappy mother overall, and that stemmed mostly from feeling like she was stuck in a fog in life. Before she had moved to D.C. permanently she had been a different person. She had been more outgoing and more involved in life in general. Yes she was still a career driven woman but her career came somewhat easy to her. It was a lot of work and yes at times she did have to put her social life on hold to tend to her career but that was the point. She had a social life. Now she felt like it had been put on hold indefinitely and her sole focus was her career. It was like she had to put her career on hold to have a social life and that didn't happen very often as she often had to wait for a certain other person to be able to make time to progress that social life which really wasn't a progression rather than a short lived acknowledgement. And this had all changed her. She still hung out with her friends from time to time, but not nearly as much as she used to which made her feel like a horrible friend. Sure she had taken these people in and always tried to be there for them but it was mostly when they had reached the point of someone needing to intervene or the consequences would be almost irreversible.

Huck was the one that she had kept closest tabs on but that was because he needed it and she feared what would happen if she didn't put in the extra effort to be involved. Stephen's marriage was all but over and she hadn't found out until after everything had happened. And there was Quinn, the woman who had become her friend because she had destroyed her life. She had agreed to the man that her friend was in love with being killed in order to protect the man that she loved and she had let her slip into the arms of B613 to put the icing on the cake that was the foundation of her friendship with the woman. She had abandoned Anna just about completely when she left for Fitz's campaign. Then there was Abby, who had stuck by her side through everything. They had had a really close relationship and they had done things with and for each other that made them more like sisters rather than best friends. Like her taking that tire iron to Charles's knee. Or Abbie going to jail with her that one time when they were in law school when that guy cheated on her. No she hadn't been in love with him, but Abby understood, it was the principles. Yes, her father had had to get it erased from both of their records, which she had initially thought had been done with some good old fashion graveling and assistance from some important friends, but now she knew better. She was still close with Abby but not nearly as close as they used to be, which was solidified by the fact that the woman had responded with, "Yay, I'm getting my friend back," when she had told her that she was going to start focusing more on herself. She had told Abby because she felt like she need someone to hold her accountable, and she knew her friend. She was really good at and not very shy about pointing out when people were screwing up.

Bottom line, she had liked the old Olivia, the woman had qualities that were admirable. She was everything that the current Olivia was except happier, more content, and more confident in herself personally. Sure she still needed some work as she still hadn't figured out how to deal with her personal issues that had been brought on by her family issues and she was a bit wild and reckless at times, but she felt like she was mature enough now to be a better version of both her selves. She just had to decide to do so and put the work in. And she was excited about the life she would have if she was able to successfully pull it off, because she honestly thought that woman would be a great woman, friend, and mother.

She had expressed this to Jake, and he had supported her in her decision. She had then apologized for being rude to Parker when she first met her and telling Adeline that he had gotten her a big sister to play with. To which he had accepted her apology and also apologized to replying to her unwarranted comment by telling their daughter that her mother had gotten her an old rich grandfather to buy her things and fund her teenage debauchery when the time came. She had again rolled her eyes at him but accepted his apology. Now the only thing was keeping that promise to herself, because she was fairly new at this and she still didn't like the idea of him dating other women, because honestly he was hers. Ever since she had met him, he had been hers, even before she knew it. But she was working on it, and though she didn't think that she would ever be one hundred percent happy with him being involved with other women, she would at least get comfortable enough with herself that she could accept it. Thankfully, she had her good friend Abby there who still had her back as much as she had back in the day.

"So is that what you do with my goddaughter when you have her? Pick up hot chicks?" Abby asked with a somewhat threatening smile.

Jake laughed, he knew he was picking a fight when he made that comment. He just didn't know who would be the first to respond, because as he had learned over the past few months. His daughter's godmother lived up to the reputation of redheads. "No, it's not what I do," he told her. "It just kind of happens." Which was the truth.

"Yeah," she said not impressed by his answer. "Olivia told me you were dating Miley Cyrus."

He laughed at what was the obvious jab at the age difference between him and Parker, which was less than the age difference between Olivia and Fitz, but he wouldn't bring that up again. He had made his point loud and clear about that when Olivia had brought up him dating a younger woman by responding with an appropriately timed random thought that Fitz was just about old enough to consent to sex before Olivia was even born and that meant that big Jerry probably made and or paid off girls to abort fetuses of Fitz's that would probably be the same age as Olivia. To which he had followed that up with how he was starting to understand her dad more, now that he had a daughter of his own. He was about to finish but she cut him off with an annoyed "Whatever" and left the room and had personally never brought up the subject of he and Parker's age difference again, at least not to him.

Soon, thankfully, they had been seated and allowed to order. They had been sharing a pleasant meal with pleasant conversation when Olivia made the mistake of mentioning Stephen coming to town in a few weeks. To which Abby had responded with piqued interest. She had reminded her friend that her other friend was still married. She then threw a look at Jake to see if he would have something smart to say as he usually did, but she saw that he was preoccupied with keeping Adeline from placing her hands in his yogurt and grabbing other things off of the table. She had then continued to share the details of Stephen's visit with Abby as she was rapid firing questions at her. Soon their food was there and Jake was tasked with keeping their daughter from sticking her hands in everything she could get to. She couldn't help but to laugh when she heard a self impressed, "There," and saw that he had managed to tuck her little hands into the Moby wrap, leaving her to look around wide eyed and helplessly as she couldn't get her little hands on anything. She had offered to take the baby back which he declined saying he had it. She had then suggested that he turn the baby facing him to which he replied it was too much work and again that he had it. Apparently he did, not optimal, but it worked.

"Aww baby," Abbie laughed along with them. "Did your daddy put you in a little baby straight jacket?" The child only cooed and kicked her little leg as if telling the woman she was stuck so she could get some help.

That was one thing she admired about Jake. Well it drove her crazy, but often ended up making her laugh. It was the way that he parented. As long as it kept the child safe and didn't scar her emotionally, to him it was acceptable. Well he had other criteria but they didn't always sync up with hers. He was clearly going to be the always time for fun 'Daddy let me do this' type of parent. She was clearly going to be the let's actually get the daily necessities accomplished then have fun type of parent. Like the time she had called him into the bathroom to finish giving the child a bath while she answered a phone call and she had returned fifteen minutes later to ask him if he was done, which he should have been, and found her daughter with a curly little mohawk and a suds beard. The child was clearly having a blast as she splashed around in the water. He had apologized and told her that he had gotten distracted.

"Jake, she doesn't like it," she pointed out as the baby started to whine and they could see her struggling to free her little hands. She was about to tell him that she would hold her while he ate, but he responded before she could.

"She's fine," he told her. "She just wants my food." With that he brought a spoon with some mashed potatoes up to her mouth, to which the child eagerly opened her mouth. She immediately made a face as she got her first taste of the creamy substance.

She wasn't sure if they should be feeding the baby 'human food' as he called it, since she wasn't quite six months yet, but she figured she was close enough. Plus she seemed to really be enjoying it once she got a taste for it and got used to the texture. It wasn't long before Jake was getting up to go to the counter to get a second helping of potatoes since he hadn't really had any of the first between feeding his daughter and Olivia 'tasting' it.

"I can't believe she's already eating food, food," Olivia said as she wiped the child's mouth. He had finally given her back to her in attempt to actually be able to eat the food that he had ordered this time. "She's growing to quickly," she voiced. She was in a weird place of motherhood right now. She was enjoying the stage that the child was in right now, and thought it was amazing and exciting all the new things she had learned and was still learning to do and how quickly it was occurring and she was excited to see her grow more and see the new things she would be able to do within the next few months, but she also missed the tiny little bobble headed being that depended on her for literally everything. "Last night she scooted about three feet to get to her pacifier."

"That's awesome," Abby said as she smiled at the baby. "Next she's going to be crawling, and then walking. And then going off to college."

"Stop it Abby," Olivia laughed. She knew her friend was just messing with her as she was having a mommy moment.

Abby laughed. "Relax Liv. You can just have more babies, with choice number one or choice number two or choice number three the smoking hot stranger that you haven't met yet. Now when did you say Stephen was coming to town?"

Olivia rolled her eyes. It seems that she wasn't the only one looking for a change up when it came to her personal life.

* * *

A/N: Because honestly...we can do better by Abby on the show. Abby can has nice things too. How? How do they make the non abusive guys she's with look like that then cast the asshole Charles to look like that! I mean he was no 10 either but at least he was tall (that's me and my thing again, I apologize to all short men, it's my complex and insecurities not yours) also (No offense to any of the actors, as I'm sure they're awesome people, just not my cup of tea.) Don't you hate when they cast aesthetically pleasing people to be the bad guy, like Franklin Russel. Who's doing this? Is their purpose to cause me inner turmoil?

**Some corrections made. Story on hold for I don't know how long and I'm working on another Olake fic but I don't know when I will be posting it on here. Its a piece with a younger version of Olake and I'm liking it so far.**


	21. Chapter 21

So unfortunately after this last episode, this story is put on hold indefinitely. I was trying to wait for the show to give me my muse back but I don't know if I'll be watching for a while and surprisingly it has very little to do with Fitz. I will try to make it short but I'll probably go on a tangent but either way I just wanted to let the people who were reading this know and not be rude...although I'm not sure why hall some of you are reading it since I obviously insult your eyes with the pairing Ive chosen (shoulder shrug).

so to start off this triNgle has sunken to a new low with me. The only response Fitz gets from me is a waving off because I mean he isn't really worth much more than that. Olivia has taken Fitz's place being that I don't like her ass anymore. And Jake has taken her place in that he's pissing me off by being stupid for someone who he supposedly loves who's just using him. I can't be team Olivia right now because I honestly don't like her right now. And since she was ultimately the main reason I watched I feel like what's the use when I'm just gonna end up having a negative attitude through the entire show. It'd be like watching a marathon of Law and Order SVU with only the episodes where the bad guys get away...well maybe not that bad because that shit pisses me off to no end (LOL).

But me not liking Olivia has nothing to do with Fitz directly. It's the way she treats the people who are actually there for her, her friends. And the fact that she often throw these people under the bus for Fitz does not help but at the end of the day she is the one making the decision to screw over people she claims to care for and at the end of the day I don't think that's right, true love or not. I was starting to touch on this is the story but as I might not get a chance I'll elaborate here.

Quinn: In my opinion, Quinn should have fought Olivia a long time ago. Like immediately when she found out live had a hand in and/or knew about the plot of murdering her boyfriend and framing her for it and destroying her life as she knew it and making communication with her only living parent non exists? Sure she felt bad about it later but I always go back to the phrase be mindful not sorry. You can't come back from that in my book, especially with just a new passport, SSN, ID, and a job. Because I had all that shit before you decided to take it away.

Abbie: I have been cringing at that damn preview all week. Here I am hoping Liv and Abbie can get their bestie relationship popping and Liv is just wrecking it. She was so dirty, in my opinion for letting Abbie walk into that snake pit. She could've sent a text or something. She made her supposed best friend look like a damn fool all so she can be with Fitz, which got me thinking that maybe Liv and Fitz deserve each other more than I thought. And then she's gonna ask if there's a problem. That just pissed me off even more cause I'm like you know there's a fucking problem you know what you did to her. Don't insult her intelligence. It wouldn't have been so bad if she would've just owned it to begin with talking bout some any I didn't want you to have to lie for me...what changed? Cause she's been lying for you a whole lot before this.

I'm not going to get into the Huck thing because I do believe that his attachment to Liv is unhealthy and unfair to her in a way. She shouldn't have to shoulder his burdens like that.

Jake: Plan and simple for people who think that I don't like Liv with Fitz because I Anna see her with Jake and for the people who want to see her with Jake but think this is still romantic because he's trying to be there for her even through this. It's not the people, it's the theme. I don't like Fitz/when he does it to Olivia, so I don't like Olivia/when she does it to Jake. I'm sorry I don't think The way that phone call between her and Jake went down was cute. She's using him and manipulating his feelings for her own benefit which could be to his detriment. And he's working my nerves because he's letting her do it.

So again, I just can't get down with Liv right now. So my muse is gone. Also though, to people mad with Mellie for being disrespectful to Olivia, um...Olivia started it. When it comes to that affair with Mellie has done nothing wrong except allow that shit to go on. Cause honestly, if I had come up with the concept of this show, it would be 10 seasons long, the very first scene would have been of Fitz bleeding out/dead in the shower with a broken glass of whiskey next to him. The next scene would've been Mellie snatching Liv up and them rolling around the White House fighting. And the third would've been a news story entitled, First Lady snaps, kills president and attacks mistress. Enters temporary insanity plea. Then the first five seasons would be building up to that point, the last five would be of Liv getting her shit back in order.

But out this is all just my humble opinion. (Shoulder shrug) And please to all you Olitzers don't leave any rude, snide, sarcastic or underhanded reviews on this because one, this has very little to do with either relationship and two if you do I'm going to have to continue this story just to prove a point and I really don't feel like doing that.

Side note, I recently started meditating again and realized that I am one of those people that will burn myself just to see other people go up in flames if I'm offended enough, just to prove a point. Now that's funny because I have a dark sense of humor but it's also troubling because I tend to go 0-100 at sonic speed in situations like that. But anyway point being, don't make me have to update this story everyday for the next week.

Either way enjoy. I'll stay updated through my cousin. We kinda on the same page with Liv but she gonna watch cause she wanna see it blow up in Liv's face whereas I'm just not interested anymore. Hopefully I'll be back one day, but I'm going to need Mya Pope in every episode.

Well that's my rant.

Toodles lol

* * *

Okay, so I typed this up last night but didn't post it because I wanted to give myself time to actually get over the episode as we've had multiple work meetings about writing emails and not sending them and after I've been told that I'm emotionally/mentally impulsive LOL. Plus I'm just trying to be a better overall person, and I am impulsive, but I'm growing up so I'm trying to work on me, but that's besides the point because I am now using this as a blog and I didn't want to do that. I have gotten over the show some but still sticking to my guns.

Because Olivia has become this shitty persons for reasons that I suspect will make me more sympathetic with her in the future, but the way they are writing it I am just not able to see them. Which is why I think the episode pissed me off even more cause it seems like she was just in the background allowing shit to happen until she had to mother Fits. That and he annoyed the hell out of me with his I'm going to go do this, but I'm going to do it slowly to give someone else in the room time to either confirm or deny that I'm doing the right thing. I legit almost said out loud when he was trying to leave to go address the press on his own, "sit your ass down somewhere boy, I'm trying to watch TV" lol. I think the comparison of him and Gavin was spot on (although I did like Gavin and have this idea in my head that Liv and Jake should be court ordered to parent Gavin as a punishment to all of them for some of the things they've done because I found that whole situation pretty funny). But last night he was on the annoying scale of bad ass chlld who won't stop touching things in the store while you are legit trying to get some errands done to sorry ass group partner he trying to bullshit you into thinking he's done the work but he's the dumbest person in the group so its not working and so ya'll just looking at him like bitch if we fail because of you it's on.

Sigh, anyways, I am still happy for Mellie because when she was driving away with Cyrus I was like smile girl, you are free. Rejoice and be merry. But again I can rock with Liv with the shit she doing right now. Usually it would be enough just to be like you messing up and then proceed to read from top to bottom in which ways and to which degree, but since she's fictitious I gotta count on her co fictitious people to do it and they are not because honestly Abbie should still be giving her the side eye. Not saying they should break friendship forever, but everybody done gave a friend the cold shoulder for a few days/weeks for good reason. You know with real friends, you love them to death, but that don't necessarily mean you like their asses all the time especially when they tripping this hard. Real friends call their friends out on their shit, especially when it's starting to mess with other situations. And I don't care that she is the focus of the TV show, that doesn't give her the right to mess over her friends. And how you gonna lay in this bed that you done had sex in, you been fighting damn near six years to get to have sex with this man in and then gone call your ex boyfriend like you a sixteen year old in your room at your parents' house just shooting the shit with bae on the phone. Naw! LOL. You are doing a lot Olivia. Everybody on both sides should be mad about that. Now don't get me wrong, some of my favorite star characters are those I'm effing over everybody types, but I go into the show knowing this. I at least thought Liv had Abbie's back, at the very least. And Quinn as well considering she is the reason...

Sure Liv can change and become that type but they writing is just not giving me enough sustenance to go along with it to be able to continue to rock with her. So for now, this story is on hold until either I start watching the show again and it gives me some motivation or I get it back on my own for whatever reason, which is possible. But in the mean time, I'm going to go listen to these fools debate with the boss about why evaluations are detrimental to the work environment and mental integrity. She just put me and my work besties back on the same days, she's never gonna let us work together again lol. But we got a point damn it.


	22. Chapter 22

A/N: So I got tired of writing for this shape shifting baby, in my head anyway, so I had some down time at work and I really didn't have shit else to search on the interwebs so I was just like, let me find a concrete picture of what I can make this kid look like. So I'm searching cute babies and none of this is working for me so I thought about the Liv baby pictures and then how to change it to make it not look like she just underwent parthenogenesis. So I decided to look up baby pictures of Yara Shahidi, since she played Lil' Liv and I could see how that could work. And that was a good idea. Precious baby, adorable toddler, just a cutie pie from start to finish. And now I want a baby…so I'm going to babysit a cousin's baby for a night and make my body realize why that's a horrible idea and unscheduled naps are still so much better than babies (for now). But anyways if you want to know what Adeline looks like google Infant Yara Shahidi, it should be the first pic that pops up. And then so I try to get a visual of hazel eyes on the baby form (since I kinda already committed to that and I don't feel like I should change it again) So I look up bronze skin hazel eyes (Well actually I looked up bronze skin first and who ever put that image result together is color blind because for some reason, Julia Roberts little niece popped up...shoulder shrug). Anyways, I google bronze skin hazel eyes and go to the images and scroll down some and start laughing, and my first thought was who the hell did this. Because I'm thinking somebody did a picture splice and posted it, but it's too neat for a splice and after investigating further it's a real picture. It's still funny, but now it's creepy and I'm like why does this person exist because this girl looks like Kerry and Beyonce had a baby (We haven't decided if we are going to name her Kerryonce or Beyrry lmao)whose remotely related to SF's eyes. Anyway's this now creepy picture, she's a pretty girl but I just thought that was a funny story cause I'm like what the eff is this? So now when I start doing my one shots (if I ever get there) I got a teen Adeline, a merger of this girl and Yara now. (Seriously though google that mess, you'll know which one I'm talking about, you don't even have to stroll)

* * *

"Oh, shit. They're back," The man across the hall behind the computer said through the mouth piece.

"They can't be back already?" The guy on the ladder said holding the camera in place.

"Why are they back already?" the guy helping him asked.

"I don't know but you need to get your asses out of there, now," the man across the hall pacing the room replied.

"I just need to mount this one, we need this one," he said as he stabilized and secured the camera.

"Hurry up!" The man yelled over the ear piece.

"Got it," he said hopping down from the ladder. He and the other man grabbed their equipment and ran out of the apartment, closing the door behind them.

* * *

"That was actually a pretty good excuse to get out of your final work out," he teased as they stepped out of the elevator. "My kids sleeping, I gotta go," he said mocking her.

They were on their way from his friend's gym. He had been spending a lot of time there and he had taken Adeline with him a couple of times, and of course Parker was there, she was sure more often than not when he went there. So, she had come up with a reason why it was also a good idea that she started spending time there. She had always been interested in learning to box and she also needed to lose the last five pounds of baby weight. At least that's what she had told him. He had stared at her before replying with a disbelieving, "Uh huh." Rather he believed it or not, she didn't care, because she now had a reason to be at the gym without having to outright say that she was keeping an eye on this Parker girl, plus she actually got the benefit of the workout.

"It wasn't an excuse," she told him, laughing a little herself.

"Sure," he told her. "Hey you think if she'd come along sooner Rowan would have let me out of missions. Sorry, dance class. Can't fly over seas, doctors appointment."

She gave him a look but still smiled. This was one of the ways he dealt with his dark past at it pertained to his life now, with a daughter and all. He had a dark sense of humor, and though a lot of times she didn't want to be, because she didn't find it funny the things that her dad did to him or had him to do, she was amused by it. She had seen enough in her lifetime to have her sense of humor a little tainted as well.

She pulled out her key and went to put it in the lock, but when she tried to push it in the door opened on its own, as if it wasn't shut properly and it definitely hadn't been locked.

* * *

"Shit!," the man that had been pacing the room yelled as he brought his hand up to his mouth trying to figure out what would be their next move. After all, he was the one in charge here, and after seeing how these idiots operated, he understood better just why that was.

"You didn't close the door all the way you idiot," one man said as he pushed the last man to leave the apartment in the shoulder.

They then started arguing over whose fault it was before the head man yelled at them all to be quiet so he could think. He then went back to watching the video feed that they did have since he could see them outside of the door.

* * *

Her mouth fell open as she turned around and looked at him. He was wearing the same facial expression she was as they were both trying to figure out just what the hell was going on.

"Jake," she said shakily, about to voice what they both already knew. She just didn't know if the danger was still nearby or if it was just a simple burglary and the intruder was long gone.

He was already shifting Adeline into her arms. "Stay here," he said as he pushed the door open a little more, and grabbed the gun from the back of his waist band.

She made a mental note to yell at him about having a gun so close to her daughter, but she would save that and use it only if he didn't end up needing to use it. If he did, well then, she'd be grateful that it was there.

He stepped slowly inside of the apartment, the gun raised and ready to fire. It didn't seem that anything had been disturbed, which made him more worried.

She took a step inside of the apartment as he was getting further away from her and she didn't want to put too much distance between them just in case something happened. She was surveying the scene as well trying to figure out how the hell whoever had been in there had gotten in. She turned and looked at the door, cradling a sleeping Adeline close to her chest. It didn't seemed that it had been disturbed or as if someone had forced their way in.

She pressed her lips to Adeline's head. Then suddenly the door across the hall from her opened and a masked man exited. She felt her adrenaline surge higher as she did the first thing she could think of. "Jake!" she yelled as she simultaneously stepped to the side out of the door frame, wrapping herself around the baby.

She heard a sound that she recognized as a gun equipped with a silencer being fired followed by a body falling. She heard Jake swear and turned her head to look at him, but he was already grabbing her by her shoulder.

"Run," he told her as he pushed her towards the door way. Her initial instinct was to go for the elevator since she had the baby and the stairs were further away, thankfully it hadn't moved from when they had gotten off of it and the doors opened almost instantly. Suddenly the door across from her apartment opened again and two men came out. The first one raised his gun, but Jake was already firing at him. The man ducked quickly when he saw he didn't have time to get off the first shot and it hit the second masked man in the shoulder causing him to fall against the wall. But a third man came out in his place. She wanted him to get on with her, but when he yelled at her to "Find Huck!" she knew that that wasn't necessarily a part of his plan.

The elevator doors closed as he was able to tackle the man going for the door to the ground. She heard that gun sound again as the elevator started moving and jumped, hoping that it wasn't Jake who had gotten shot. Her mind was racing and her heart was pounding out of her chest, but she knew she had to keep herself from panicking, if she was going to get her baby out of there.

The dings from the elevator seemed extra loud, and she immediately hit the button for all of the floors after she realized that she had not hit a button. She wanted so badly to just ride it down to the first floor and sprint the hell out of that building, but she could tell from the ambush that she had just experienced that this was a set up and there were probably more people waiting in the lobby for her. She could hear the sound of thumping in her ears as well as each breath she took as she readied herself to fight as best she could with the baby in her arms. The elevator gave one last ding as it stopped on the third floor and she took a deep breath as the door opened, then stepped off racing towards the stairwells.

She pushed the door open and stepped back into the hallway immediately allowing it to close as she heard footsteps below her and caught a glimpse of two men going to the second floor before one of them said something about 'the bitch stopping at every floor'. She closed her eyes tight hoping that they wouldn't continue up a floor. She took another deep breath and held it, listening for sounds coming from the stairwell. When she didn't hear any, she pushed the door open and rushed down the last two flights, making it into the lobby just as she heard the men entering the stairwell again. She hurried towards the front desk, telling the older gentlemen who manned the desk during the night to call the police because someone had broken into her apartment. The man asked if she was okay, but she didn't answer as she was already on her way towards the door.

She quickly spotted her car and jumped into the front seat, locking the door. She turned around and reached over the front seat, taking the baby away from her chest for the first time and placing her in the car seat. The baby immediately began crying as she had woken up sometime during the whole thing but had thankfully not given them away by crying.

"Shh," she tried to comfort her, as she strapped her in her seat. "I know baby, I know. But we have to get out of here."

She clicked the last strap into place, and jumped when she heard a knock on the passenger side window. She was prepared to get out of the car leaving the baby behind or fight if they tried to take the child. Thankfully, she wouldn't have to make that decision as she saw Jake's face staring back at her, telling her to open the door. She quickly did and he got in the passenger seat.

"Go Liv, I don't know how many of them there are," she jammed the key in the ignition and started the car before pulling off into the streets.

They drove for a few seconds in silence. She didn't know where she was going, but she figured as long as he didn't say anything, she was on an approved route.

He groaned and adjusted himself in the seat, she looked over and saw that his dark gray T shirt was wet on the side.

"What is that?" she asked panicking. "Is that blood? Are you bleeding? Did you get shot?"

"Calm down," he told her, trying to brush it off. "It's just a flesh wound." He said looking down at the side of his shirt to see how badly he was bleeding. He reached in the back seat to grab his gym bag he had left in her car.

"How do you know?" she asked, alternating between looking at the road and wound in his side.

"Because I can still breath," he told her as he pulled a towel out of his bag, wincing slightly. He was trying not to leave any of his blood in the car as he planned on ditching the car as soon as he thought it was safe.

"For now," she yelled at him.

"Liv, I'm fine," he said raising his shirt so he could get a better look. He placed the towel behind him.

She looked over and saw a chunk of flesh missing. "You need to go to a hospital."

"Can't," he told her. "I don't know who those guys were. I don't know how far their reach is. And I'm not leaving you right now."

"Jake," she said, preparing to argue her point.

"Olivia," he cut her off, "just keep driving. Trust me." She looked over at him. "Please."

She just stared at him for a moment before turning back to the road and driving in silence. The only sounds being Adeline's intermittent cries. Olivia told him to grab her pacifier out of the bag she had placed in the backseat and thankfully that quieted her.

* * *

"_No, I'll be there in a second," she said strolling towards her office with Adeline in her arms. "Just keep him there."_

_She was headed to her office to meet with a client. So far her morning had gone per usual. She was actually doing a little better seeing that she was actually on time, her client was just a little early. Before becoming a mother, she had been a stickler for time unless something important and unexpected came up, but with a baby, something unexpected was always coming up. Plus there was just more stuff to haul around, but she was getting better at it. Still not always on time as she would have liked to have been._

_Then suddenly she saw a guy walk by in a ski mask. She frowned deeply, and wondered what the hell was going on as she watch the man continue to walk down the busy sidewalk. No one else seemed to be alarmed, so she brushed it off and continued walking. _

"_Has Huck found anything in the database yet?" _

"_No," Quinn kept talking but her attention was diverted by another man dressed in all black with a ski mask over his face. This time she turned her head letting her eyes follow the man as he passed her by. Again, no one else seemed to be concerned and the guy didn't even seem to have notice her._

"_Liv? You there?" Quinn asked through the phone. _

"_Yeah, I just," she stopped as she noticed another guy with the same attire. "Quinn, is today some kind of weird holiday I'm not aware of?" she asked. _

"_No why?" the woman asked_

_She was about to tell her but suddenly she bumped into one of those masked men. "Oh, sorry," she said, not a little frightened having actually made contact with one of the weird people. She tried to back away from him and keep going but she realized the man had his hands on her daughter and he was not letting go. _

"_What are you doing?" she said looking up at him. _

"_Just let her go and no one gets hurt," he said calmly._

"_No," she told him offended that he would even suggest such a thing. "You need to let go of my baby, now."_

_The man responded by tugging on the baby, which started her crying. _

"_Let go of her," she yelled at him refusing to let go of her baby. "You're hurting her."_

_Suddenly the man pushed her forcefully and she felt the child slipping from her grip. Her shoulder hit the wall and she fell onto her stomach. She stood up quickly, still hearing the child crying, but when she looked up, her daughter and the masked man was nowhere to be seen, but she could still hear her crying. She was crying, she was in danger and she couldn't get to her. She wanted to scream, bulldoze through the crowd until she found the masked man but she couldn't do anything. Her limbs were heavy, she couldn't move them. Suddenly she felt the ground slipping away from underneath her._

* * *

Suddenly she startled awake, her eyes popping open as she raised herself up partially with her hand, prepared to fight now that she could move again.

"Whoa," she heard a familiar voice say causing her to look in his direction. His face was still a little blurry as she was still exhausted. "Relax."

She realized that she was now in a bedroom, her head turned quickly and she saw her baby safe and sound, sprawled out on her back, a pillow on the other side of her to keep her from rolling off of the bed, her little mouth sucking gently, the pacifier that was supposed to be there on the bed about a foot above her head. Her little chest rising and falling as she seemed to be falling back into a little bit of a deeper sleep, her parents' ruckus almost having woke her.

"You okay?" he asked, causing her head to whip back towards him.

"I'm..." she started, raising a hand to her forehead as the events of the previous night came rushing back to her. The dream drawing her concentration a little bit.

They had left town. They had left town, traded cars somewhere after leaving town and traded license plates as well. Then he had brought her here, which if she was remembering correctly that early morning ferry ride in her exhausted haze, they were in the Hamptons. She was just relieved to be somewhere safe, with a bed, and shower so she had just showered, got in the bed and passed out. He remembered him faintly saying he would take care of Adeline, which he must have because she hadn't had on a onesie before she had fallen asleep.

"I'm fine," she finally got out, as she looked back at him. She realized that the ground moving under her had been him getting out of the bed.

"I'm gonna run out and grab some things," he told her. "I don't think we have anything to eat here."

"Wait," she told him as she started to get out of bed, "I'm coming with you. I don't have anything for her." That onesie the child had on was the only extra piece of clothing in her bag when they had made a run for it.

"Liv, don't worry," he told her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's fine. I'll grab some stuff for her. Get some rest."

She wanted to argue with him but she was really exhausted. She must have looked it too if he was pleading with her to get more sleep. But it was just hard to sleep when you were actively on the run. Thankfully he had brought them here. She still didn't know exactly where here was or who it belonged to but she felt safe here, mostly because he felt it was safe for them. With that thought and her tiredness weighing down on her, she didn't even remember him walking out of the room before she was asleep again.

She woke again about an hour later, the feel of something moving through her hair stirring her from her sleep. Her eyes flickered open and she stared at the wall for a moment before realizing the disturbance was coming from behind her. She turned her head slowly to see that Adeline was awake, her wiggling little limbs had gotten her hand tangled in her mother's hair.

The baby's eyes flickered to hers and as soon as she made eye contact with her mother she smiled and started cooing, causing Olivia to smile as well. She watched as the child managed to flip herself onto her stomach with a tiny bit of a struggle. She leaned into her mother and started a light conversation by babbling and cooing, every now and then getting excited about something that made her squeal. Sure she was tired, but Adeline was up and from the looks of it she wanted to play. She rolled onto her back and picked the child up. It wasn't until she seemed more interested in chewing on her fingers than talking and she dropped her head to her mother's breast bone and started emitting smacking sounds that she realized she hadn't fed her since she climbed into the back seat to feed her around six am that morning. It was now after noon. She picked Adeline up and climbed out of bed before wandering slowly in the living room. She hadn't realized how gorgeous this house was. It was big and bright and very well designed and decorated. She took a seat in the front of the larger windows facing the backyard which ran off into a beach.

* * *

He pulled up into the garage and grabbed the bags from the back seat bringing them into the house he got to the living room and sat the bags down on the counter before he heard Olivia calling his name.

"Hey, yeah," he said knowing that she just wanted verification that it was him. "It's me." He followed her voice into the living room and found her sitting in front of the view window breastfeeding Adeline.

"I got lunch," he informed her. "It's not much just soup and a sandwich. Sorry there's no Gettysburger here."

She smiled at him. "That's okay," she then gave him a look before suspiciously looking around the place. "Where exactly is here?"

He opened his mouth but no words came out and she could tell that he hesitated which meant that he didn't want to give her the answer, either because she wouldn't like it or for some other reason. This made her stare at him more intently, looking for any sign that he was lying or not giving her the whole truth.

"Uhh, it's actually my place," he told her.

Her eyes widened and she didn't look like she completely believed him, not because he couldn't afford a place like this but because this was the man that she had been begging to get an updated cell phone and a new car, which he finally got, though he never told her what actually happened to his old car. A man who decided to rent and never gave actually buying a condo or a house a second thought, she believed for much the same reasons she hadn't. And now he was telling her that he owned this beautiful family home, because it was clearly a family home not a bachelor pad.

He went on to explain, "Well actually it's my mother's," he told her, "but she doesn't want it. She comes up here from time to time just to make sure it's being kept up but she wants me to take it."

She continued to stare at him. "Where are we?"

"Quogoe," he told her.

"So, you own a house in the Hamptons?" she questioned to confirm. She still couldn't get her mind around him having a permanent base like this. Well it made sense when she thought about it. It was pretty secluded but not secluded enough to draw attention to himself, plus nothing about Jake screamed Hamptons and if his name wasn't in anyway associated to the house it would be hard to tie him to it let alone figure out it was his go to place when he was on the run.

"No, my mother does," he corrected.

"But it's gonna be yours," she told him.

"Nope, because I don't want it either," he informed her. She gave him a look as if he was crazy. She hadn't stepped foot in the place more than eight hours ago and she already wanted this house, so she couldn't figure out why neither he or his mother did.

She smiled at him again, realizing something. "Was that a picture of you when you were a little boy?"

He rolled his eyes at her and walked back into the kitchen, causing her to start laughing. "What? You were cute?" she called behind him as she finished up feeding Adeline, now feeling a little hungry herself. She picked the baby up and went into the kitchen where he had set out their food on the counter top. She also saw that he had brought a few groceries and a few things for Adeline, this drew her attention back to the seriousness of their situation.

They still didn't know what the hell that was. The men were clearly after her but she didn't know if they were specifically after her or her baby. She prayed it was the former and not the latter.

"You think my father could've been behind this?" she blurted out, the fear from the night before starting to creep it's way back up her spine.

Jake looked at her taking in her demeanor. He didn't know why that would be the first person she jumped to. He didn't necessarily think it was Rowan's doing because the guys were clearly not B6-13 trained. Plus they seemed to be more aggressive than he would think Rowan would have them be with his daughter, not that he didn't think he would hurt her, but from his knowledge she hadn't done anything recently to cause him to want to do that, other than the case against B6-13 but she had been sitting on that for a while. He would surely make a few more threats to both of them before he actually decided to come for them. That was just the way he played it with them, but something about her told him that she wasn't telling him everything.

"He's been following me," she admitted. "Usually when I have Adeline. You think he was coming for her...to take her away from me?" By now she had tears in her eyes as she rocked slightly from foot to foot, stroking the child's back as she cooed quietly to herself.

He didn't say anything at first. He was just trying to process this new information. He hadn't known that Rowan had been threatening her, he figured he would at some point but he was unaware it had started. He wanted to know why she hadn't told him but she was clearly a little shaken up by all of it. He wouldn't lie, it scared him a little as well. He was all too aware of the ways that Rowan could work and have their baby snatched from them, but he would do his best to keep that from happening. Even before Adeline's birth, all he had wanted to do was see Olivia happy, and now that she had her she was genuinely happy. He had never seen her as happy as she had been the first time Adeline smiled at her or laughed or when she got up on her knees to make to crawl even though she didn't make it anywhere, rocking back and forth before falling back to her stomach and scooting to where she wanted to go. He saw how content and happy she was with Adeline and he knew his daughter needed her mother, and he would do everything in his power to keep them together, even if that meant giving his life.

"Come here," he said, before pulling her into a hug. He kissed her forehead before resting his chin on top of her head. "I told you, we're not gonna let that happen. That's not gonna happen."

She laid her head on his chest, taking comfort that they had beaten whoever it was in their first attempt at doing whatever it was that they had come to do. She also knew that they made a formidable team, just the two of them, but that they also had pretty damn good help around them as well. They weren't just sitting ducks.

She took a deep breath and blew it out. She then picked her head up and looked up at him. "Whoever this is, when this is over, we need to finish this with my father," she told him. She was getting tired of having to look over her shoulder all the time, and now that this had happened, she was ready to be done with it. He just nodded before pulling them back into his arms.

* * *

A/N: I will come back to edit later. No I'm not back watching Scandal but I am generally aware of what's been going on. As I can't help but to when you have people talking about it all the time. Few thoughts on what I do know...Cyrus is either tripping or scheming, I hope its the latter (I feel Cyrus is too vengeful and he'd already turned his vengeful mind on Fitz I don't think a hug and a sob story would be able to change his mind, but IDK what the hell this show is doing right now...shoulder shrug). Mellie is tripping, I really just don't understand why she wants to be with Fitz, I mean I understand that was her path to the presidency, but shit girl cut your losses, is it really worth it to have to deal with that bs. Fitz is and has always been a three year old. Liv and Jake need a time out from each other and just general time outs, like sit in a corner and think about what you are doing Missy/Mister, time outs. I'm still kinda ahn, on watching. We are still on these story lines from season one, like can we move on already like if she's going to marry him, let her and put that ish in the background so I can go back to my regularly scheduled programming of political dramas and not sadistic love (?) story from investigation discovery.

Anyways, read enjoy, review...


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: Okay, so I don't even know what to do with that episode. So I'm just going to post this chapter I've been working on...But seriously this is the first time in my history of watching Scandal that my mood is just down. I've never felt sad after watching this show. This was just a bummer of an episode. It was good, I think but my shipper goggles are on. It was still better than see-sawing with the white house though, lawd Jesus I'm tired of that story line. Maybe I was just in a sad place to start off with, from the news of Prince...sigh. Did he seriously just buy that though, that "I love him, I want to be with him" when she just had him and was like Nope! I can't I won't. Read these vows Liv. I don't know what that says, suddenly I can't read...LMAO. That's just about how she slid up out of the white house though when they tried to get her to marry Fitz. Then when she was like "you're a weaker version of him," I half expected him to laugh in her face but I forget he was damaged as a child. But I for damn show laughed and was like wait a minute Liv, you're trying to keep this believable, slide back on over to believable-ness for a second, cause damaged self esteem be damned, after that comment I'm pretty sure he's on to you. I will say I did half expect her ass to still slide up in that wedding with a 600+ guess list and shut that shit down, which I would have been entirely and completely here for just for the balls that would take, and just to prove a point. **

**Anyways, again, I didn't know what to do with this episode, and today was just a sad day and this episode made it even sadder, and I had this sitting on my computer. It's not necessarily as long as I wanted or as complete because I was still working on it, but I felt like I had to do something after watching tonight. **

* * *

Olivia watched as her daughter wiggled around her bed, mostly and thankfully all over her father. She was paying attention to the child but was semi consumed by her thoughts as well. It wasn't until the child toppled over clumsily onto Jake's head that she smiled. She had managed to wiggle her way above his head and onto his pillow as she was in an in between stage of her movement development. She was doing more than scooting but not quite crawling yet and was able to sit up by herself most of the time. She had been trying to get herself upright when she fell onto him. Her smile widened as he sighed out loud and took the child from off of his head and placed her back in between them. He then closed his eyes again.

"Nine days, and she doesn't want to sleep in her own bed anymore," he stated.

Nine days, that was how long they had been on the run before they had decided to come back to town. After being gone for a few days Olivia started to get anxious. She was more of a take action type of person or at least she wanted to be in the know and it was hard to do that being out of town. He had been lucky enough to be able to contact Huck on a secure line. Well he had actually taken a chance, figuring that Huck would be the least likely of their contacts to have his equipment unknowingly tampered with. He had called, asked if anything had been suspicious with any of his equipment and the man had told him no then proceed to check just incase he'd missed anything. His search had come up empty. He had then told Huck what was going on and had just finished relaying the full message when the phone was snatched away from them and Abby and Anna took turns telling them about themselves for leaving like they had and not contacting anyone for three days. They had apologized but explained what had happened again to the women only to cause their worry over the entire thing to heighten again. Olivia had then pleaded with Anna to go back to New York as this could have had something to do with her dad and Anna would be just as good of a target as she was. The woman refused which pissed Olivia off but she did tell her to be extra vigilant before storming out of the room to give Adeline a diaper change.

They had then decided since they knew more about what was going on, it would be better if they returned to the city to help handle this. It had basically been an attempt to kidnap Olivia, her father had had nothing to do with it. They had figured it out, stopped the guys in process of trying to blackmail the POTUS for her ransom and, still being in a take action state of mind, she wanted to put the plan into action to take down her father as she felt they would never find a better window of time to do so.

"Do you think I'm doing the right thing?" she asked him, the smile disappearing from her face as she broached the subject that had been plaguing her.

He opened his eyes and turned towards her as Adeline continued to maneuver her way around the bed, babbling to herself. "About what?"

"My mother," she told him, as if he didn't already know. She hadn't stopped thinking about it since she left the jail earlier. She had gone to visit her mother to see if the woman would provide some insight on how to take down her father.

The woman had replied by telling her 'I know you aren't going to just waltz your behind in here with your flat stomach and no semblance of my grandbaby in your arms and get what you want from me." She had then stated boldly and flatly 'I want to see my grandbaby."

She had rolled her eyes got up to leave, hearing the woman say, "You must not want my help then," as she walked out of the door.

She had first refused to even consider it, but the more she thought about it, the more she actually started to consider it. She had brought the subject up to Jake first, since she would end up telling him before she actually did bring the baby to see Maya, if she decided to do so.

He had responded by asking her what she thought, then telling her that it was her family, if she was okay with it then he was too. But that's the thing, she didn't know if she was okay with it. So she had discussed it with Abby, then called Anna who was back in town with Alex for the time being. Both women told her that it was up to her and reminded her that her mother had never actively done anything to hurt her, Anna throwing in the fact that she actually had a genuinely good and loving relationship with her mother before she went away. So she had decided that she would do it, but only after informing Anna that she was promising to come with her which had resulted in a pretty childish fight, but the woman agreeing to come anyway.

"I think that you wouldn't put Adeline in harm's way ever," he told her. "I think you would avoid that at all cost. So I think you know on some level that it is safe and that you are doing the right thing, and I trust your judgment on that. So yeah, I think you're doing the right thing."

She responded only by staring at him, the moonlight coming through her window being the only source of light illuminating the room. He stared back. At least until Adeline wiggled her way right in front of his face, babbling something as she placed her hands on his face used it as a leverage to try to pull herself up. She only managed to get her chest further up enough to grab onto his ear and his nose and bring her mouth to his eye.

"Are you sucking my eyeball?" he asked disbelievingly and Olivia laughed as she could partially see the disapproving look on the man's face and she heard a loud smacking noise coming from that direction. "It's midnight," he said grabbing hold of the child again and removing her from his face. "Why are you not asleep?" The baby only responded by laughing which caused Olivia to laugh.

"It's not funny," he told Olivia. "She's not using you as a jungle gym."

* * *

"Muah," Anna said as she placed a kiss on the baby's cheek. "My little thickums," she said tickling the baby's chubby little thighs, causing the child to laugh and wiggle in her mother's arms. "Are you excited about meeting your grandma?"

"She's not her grandmother," Olivia corrected it as wholeheartedly as she could.

"Um, I'm not a genetics expert and I haven't made a family tree since second grade but I do believe…," Olivia cut her off as they stepped up to the guard's desk.

"We are here to see Maya Lewis," she said.

The guard looked at the computer screen and after hitting a few keys informed them that they would need to go through an extensive search as well as scan the baby to make sure there was nothing hidden in her diaper.

"See that girly, you already got street cred," Anna said placing her finger in the baby's palm to which Adeline replied by gripping her finger and beginning to babble at the woman.

"Stop it Anna," Olivia said as she tried to force the gut reaction she had had to hearing her child would have to be scanned back down her throat.

"What? I'm just playing?" Anna defended. "Besides, between you and Jake that kid had street cred pre conception."

"I do not have street cred," Olivia defended.

"Whatever," was Anna's reply. "I bet bitches on the street aren't messing with you."

"Shut up Anna," Olivia said.

"You shut up Olivia," Anna returned.

The petty bickering continued throughout the rest of the security procedures and down the hall as they were led to the room where they would meet with her mother.

Maya heard them coming down the hall as the guard open the door. She smiled slightly to herself.

"Both of you stop your whining," she spoke out towards the door. Immediately she noticed the talking ceased, before it picked up again.

She heard Anna telling Olivia to go in and she figured they had stopped right outside the door as they were speaking in a hushed tone and she could still hear them. She smiled as she heard a baby seemingly trying to get in on whatever conversation was going on. She couldn't help the smile that came to her face. Olivia had told her that it would be hard getting the clearance to bring a child in, to which Maya responded with, "Well make a call."

"Get in here girl so I can see my granddaughter," she stated.

Olivia looked at Anna who returned her look but then raised her eyebrows and gestured towards the door. "Go Liv," she said. "We weren't treated like some potential drug mules just to get here and stand outside the door."

Olivia took a deep breath and held it, pulling Adeline a little closer to her. She stared at the door a little longer before stepping into the entryway.

Her face remained stoic and hesitant as she watched her mother's eyes go a little wide before her expression slowly morphed into a smile. She still wasn't sure about this, but it was too late.

"Oh," Maya started causing Adeline's attention to turn from the burly men flanking the doorway as she frantically looked for the new voice and only sound being made in the room at the time. "Darling, look at you."

Olivia could feel herself growing angry as a look of pure happiness came over her mother's face. She watched as the woman held her cuffed hands up to her mouth as she tooked in the baby's features. She didn't know why anger was prevailing emotion out of all the things she had been feeling. Maybe it was a backlog of things. Like her mother being gone for most of her life, all of her pregnancy and denying her and her daughter the comfort of having a dependable mother/grandmother to be in their lives. She didn't think that her mother deserved to know her daughter. She didn't deserve to win this one. Even though it was her own decision to bring Adeline, she felt like Maya had forced her hand a little.

She didn't realize that she had stopped moving until Anna nudged her slightly from behind. She swallowed thickly before moving towards the table. She looked down at her daughter whose eyes were locked on the woman sitting on the other side of this. Her mother continued to smile and stare down the baby as she and Anna took their seats across from her. She adjusted Adeline so that she was facing Maya.

"Olivia, she's beautiful," Maya mused, causing Adeline to start babbling as she thought that a conversation had been initiated.

"Aww, sweetheart," Maya went to reach for the baby but was stopped short as she realized that her hands were still cuffed to the table. She then turned to the guard behind her. "Take these damn cuffs off of me."

The man stared her down before turning to Olivia. He didn't move. This caused Maya to turn to Olivia. They just stared at each other. Maya arched an eyebrow letting Olivia know that she knew she had to power to give the word that would release her from the handcuffs. Olivia rolled her eyes, causing Maya to frown, and glanced at the guard before nodding subtly. The man then walked over and removed the handcuffs. Maya immediately reached for the baby and Adeline leaned forward raising her arms out, the lady seemed nice enough, she had barely stopped smiling since she laid eyes on her. Olivia sighed wishing the baby had already gotten that stranger anxiety the pediatrician kept warning her about.

When Olivia made no effort to hand her the baby, Maya spoke, "So you aren't going to let me hold her?"

"Your husband," Olivia said, knowing that would piss Maya off at least a little. Anna had to suppress a smirk at the look that came to the older woman's face. "How do I get to him?"

"By correcting your tone and letting me hold my grandbaby," she said staring Olivia down, who returned the stare momentarily before lifting Adeline from her lap allowing her mother to take her. She knew that this would be part of the deal, but that didn't mean she would walk into it so willingly, but the faster they got this over with the faster she could get her baby back and leave the prison.

"Oh, babygirl," Maya said holding the baby up to give her a once over. "You look just like your mama did. Minus that white boy's eyes of course."

Olivia's lips pressed together and Anna gave a look of disbelief that that woman would still be so petty even though she was scheduled to spend the rest of her life behind bars.

"But thank god you got some pigment in your skin. And you're gonna have your mama's hair," she said pulling gently at the wild curls that were somewhat tamed by the lilac headband the baby had on. The baby responded by smiling and beginning to talk back, causing the woman to continue doting her.

"Look at that, she can pass for normal," Anna whispered to Olivia.

"And if those two over there don't fix their nasty little attitudes, Grandma's going to beat their butts," Maya said, to the baby.

"Okay Mommy Dearest," Anna started. "You know what, we came here for information, spill it."

"Isn't that something?" Maya said settling Adeline on her lap and finally looking at them. "All that attitude and sass and still needing my help."

"Just tell me how to get to him," Olivia demanded.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you liked. I feel like Maya could've stopped the end of tonight's episode. Apparently the season finale is titled 'that's my girl' or someone says that's my girl. People are speculating that it's Rowan referring to Liv but I actually think it might be Maya (Though I am biased). I also think that Jake knows something's up with Liv and Rowan because again Liv had Voldy and quickly slid up out of that mess, and he knows Liv, she's flaky but he knows she's not that flaky aaannnd he knows even if she felt that way she wouldn't just straight up tell him because Liv never cuts the strings that she may need to pull later unless she absolutely has too i.e. the white house and she's still trying to pull them, and she definitely didn't have to take it there tonight. I think Jake was still deciding what to do about it and when he said I do to Vanessa that was him deciding on a plan to take Rowan out from the inside. And what the hell is up with Rowan. If he wanted Jake to marry Vanessa so badly why the hell did he have him and Liv up in the same house? He know good and well what was about to happen. And also, Rowan is evil as hell. That house is the perfect I need a break from my adult life so I'm going to go back to my childhood bedroom and give up all responsibility for my life for next few days get away that we all need from adulthood at times. I would be in there listening to loud '90s music, texting people, not paying bills and bullshiting my life away every other weekend. He knows how to lure people, dirty, dirty. Oh this you can't take command story line is back as well, another one that is tired and played out BUT...if it brings Maya back into the picture, I can overlook it. **

**BUT BRUH...PRINCE! I still can't get over that one.**


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: Sigh...Can somebody please come get their trash can out of my yard, the wind must have blown it over here but I don't have any use for it.**

_SpiritofLove76: Obviously I hurt your feelings you bum bitch still writing paragraphs that are not being read. Your a bum bitch who can't take an ounce of criticism. Which is why you will never be good at this. The only sentence I said in your review was "Who wrote this a 13 yr old" and from that your oversensitive ass exploded. Just a like a child. Bye bum bitch!_

_Me: 2h agoReally? You goal clearly was to hurt someone's feeling, you are for whatever reason convinced that you hurt my feelings, but still you are arguing with me. I mean, in your mind you accomplished your goal, but you're still angry. I call that the Miserable Bitch Syndrome. But then again we knew that about you already didn't we? You are just a sad, worthless waist of human parts. Like you can't even come back with anything. I have read you your entire life because you idiots expose just who you are on these interwebs, and you really just can't say shit when someone calls you out for what you are. If I'm so talentless why even waist your precious time commenting? Again, a symptom of MBS. You need a life._

**She's convinced that she's hurt my feelings, which is what she seems to have aimed to do, but she's still unhappy. And apparently I can't take criticism (which she claims to have been doing instead of being an asshole) when I'm looking for Betas to criticize my writing. And she keeps getting riled up over words, she's apparently not reading. I don't know how that works. But she's pissed. I feel sorry for her a little bit though. If she thinks feelings are that easily hurt, she must get her feelings injured on a daily basis. I'll post the rest at the bottom because it is quite entertaining.**

**Anyways, here's the next chapter. Can you guess which holiday this was for but I was too much of a procrastinator to get it finished and posted in time. But it's till May right? Hope you guys are enjoying your holiday, while I'm over here messing around on the internet with my stomach about to eat itself wondering why the food can't ever be ready on time. I hope you guys really enjoy this chapter, a took a while for me to finish it but its a lot of fluff so...**

* * *

The first thing she noticed was the noise coming from somewhere outside of her room. She frowned, not really fully awake yet. The next thing she noticed was the light through her eyelids. She sighed heavily and snuggled deeper into her pillow, refusing to give up the comfort before she absolutely had to. After all, Adeline hadn't woken up yet so she would milk that for all it was worth. Suddenly a thought crossed her mind, "What time is it?"

The light in the room seemed a little too bright to say the baby was still asleep. It was strange. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at the window. No, it definitely was not early morning which was when she usually heard her baby calling for her with soft cries. She rolled onto her back and looked over at her clock, "9:08." She hadn't slept in this late since she decided to take on the job title of co-campaign manager with Cyrus. It felt, good, but unusual. Before she could make to move from the bed, something in the doorway caught her attention. She looked at him and blinked a couple of times to clear the rest of the sleep from her eyes.

"Good," he said walking into the room with a tray of food, "you're awake. I was starting to think this was all going to be for nil."

She sat up in the bed as he came closer with the tray. She had a lot of questions. "What is this?" was the first one that managed to make its way past her lips.

"What it looks like," was his simple reply. "Breakfast in bed."

She leaned back against the pillow and rubbed her eyes, taking in what he had just said. Then she realized that he didn't have Adeline with him.

"Where's Addie?" she asked, allowing him to set the tray in front of her.

"On top the kitchen counter," her eyes shot up to meet his eyes. "I couldn't carry her and the tray, I had to pick one."

"Jake," she said threateningly as she made to move the tray from in front of her so she could get out of bed.

"I'm kidding," he said placing his hands on the tray to keep her in place. "She's safe on her play mat on the living room floor. You think I'm an idiot?"

She gave him a look that said she didn't find his joke funny. He smiled lovingly at her, finding her lack of makeup and curly ponytail adorable, as she was pouting at him. "You stay here and eat, I'll go grab her." She looked back at the food. It looked really good, but it was a lot.

"I can't eat all of this," she said as a smile slowly started to make its way to her face. She didn't know what she had done to deserve this, but she would not complain, especially since her stomach was starting to growl at the sight and smell before her.

"That's why I'm coming back," he said pointing towards her and walking towards the door, "to help." He disappeared through the door frame.

She took in the tray one more time and was about to grab for the utensils until a card caught her eyes. She picked it up and realized that there was another card under it. She decided to read the one in her hand first.

It was a simple card, white with a black heart in the center, and colorful words inside of the heart. A smile came to her face as she read it, "Thank you for loving me even though I plowed through your lady parts with my big bulbous baby head." She laughed out loud, shaking her head and opened the card. It read simply, "Happy Mother's Day." Signed with "Love, Adeline" in what was obviously not her daughter's handwriting.

Then it hit her why she was getting the breakfast in bed treatment. Today was Mother's Day. Jake had asked her if she wanted to do anything special a few days prior, but she had told him no and that they needed to focus on putting her father away. They had already sent the tip to the local police and they were now working with the FBI to put a case together against her father for laundering money. She wanted to stay focus, get this done and over with. She didn't need to be pampered as a reward for loving and taking care of her daughter, but if he wanted to after they got this thing with her father settled, she would gladly accept. It seemed that he had decided to ignore her request though.

She placed that card to the side and picked up the other card on the tray. It was a lot fancier, with pastel colors, and flowers, and parts that protruded slightly from the card, as well as a baby bunny with a bow on her head and a mama bunny. She smiled again as she opened it and began reading. It was a poem, a very personal poem. She knew that the writing had been a custom addition to the card as it mentioned events she had experienced in taking care of her daughter. She instantly knew who had written the poem but it was confirmed by the woman's small signature in the corner, 'Anna', under the larger signature of 'Love, Adeline'. She then looked at the two little hand prints in pink and purple on the other side, and the messy finger painted "Adeline" which someone had taken her little finger, dipped it in paint and traced her name with it. She smiled imagining the effort it had taken to get it to look as neat as it did.

She felt tears welling up in her eyes and had just reached for her face to wipe them away, when he entered the room with their daughter in his arms.

"Com'on now, stop crying all over the food, Liv," he said jokingly. She laughed.

"I can't help it," she said as she reached for Adeline. "It's not everyday my baby writes me a poem." She kissed the baby's cheek, but the infant seemed more interested in getting her hands on the food in front of her. She settled her beside her before giving her a piece of biscuit to slobber over.

Jake sat down in front of her and flipped on the television set. He then grabbed one of the sausages on the plate. She glanced up at him as he tried to keep the baby from grabbing another piece of food off of the tray. She felt herself smiling again. She wondered how much effort he had put into getting to Adeline before she was able to wake her up, entertaining the baby and making this big breakfast. She felt appreciated, and appreciative.

"Thanks," she said causing him to look up at her. She raised her eyes to meet his. "For all of this."

"Oh, this is just the beginning," he told her with a smile. He could tell she was enjoying the day he had planned so far.

She shook her head, "I told you I didn't want you to go through any trouble."

"I know," he said somewhat apologetically, "but I got carried away. And then I made the mistake of asking for a little help here and there from Anna, Abby, and Quinn and it just snowballed. I will say I managed to thwart most of their ideas, but I think you'll like the rest of it. You're going to get to go to our super secret spot."

"Oh," she said looking down at the grinning baby that was being tickled. "You have a super secret spot?"

"Yeah, it's just a little place we go while the boring people who like to work all day are at work working. Which reminds me," he said looking up from the baby and back at her, "it was their idea to take your phone. They are fielding the calls."

"They took my phones?" she asked in disbelief.

"I know, I know," he held up his hand in his defense, "but they promised to call my phone if anything urgent that they can't handle pops up."

He studied her for a little bit, and he could tell she was a little apprehensive. "Liv," he said calling her attention back to him. "It'll be fine. Just...enjoy this. You deserve it."

* * *

"Wow," Olivia teased as they walked through the park. "Your super secret spot sure is out in the middle of everywhere."

Jake smiled at her sarcasm. "Are you going to enjoy this or are we going to have to send you back to the white house for a time out from happiness?"

Her face immediately split into a wide grin and she laughed at the association. "Okay, okay," she told him. "Just one rule, if I'm really going to enjoy this as much as you want me to, maybe we shouldn't talk about work, especially since I don't have my phones...It's just going to make me anxious.

He agreed and they found a spot, his usual spot with Adeline. They laid out the blankets that they had brought with them and placed the basket of food and Adeline on top of them and parked the cooler of drinks next to it before settling themselves. Olivia started to unpack the toys out of the bag they'd bought for the baby and she immediately began to keep herself busy, ignoring the toys and crawling to the edge of the blanket exploring the texture of the grass with her little hands. She looked around the park, it really was a beautiful day out and she had forgotten about this area of the park almost. She rarely came just to visit the park. She would jog through on the running trail or meet people here on the main pathways, but if it wasn't on the jogging trail or one of the high-traffic pathways, she didn't frequent it much if at all. It was a beautiful area. It was open but their setup was partially in the shade of the tree and partially in the sun just in case they wanted to lay in it and feel the warmth on their skin. The grass and the trees were a vibrant green and the flowers that had been landscaped into the design were in full bloom. There was a considerable amount of people as well, enough to make you feel socialized, but not too many that you felt crowded or you didn't have at least some privacy for your group. She felt more relaxed and at peace just being there. Why didn't she come to the park as often anymore?

"There's supposed to be a live band here today," he told her, "but I think we're out of the way enough where we won't be in the crowd but we should still be able to hear the music pretty well."

She just looked at him. She never knew that he was a lay out in the park type of guy, but he seemed to be kind of an expert at park visiting.

"You guys come here a lot?" she asked him.

"No, not a lot," he told her. "Whenever we get a chance. We just started coming once it got warmer out."

She studied him as he reached out to pull Adeline back onto the blanket before she could crawl off. She was curious. "What else do you guys do when I'm not around?" She had a feeling she was missing out on some things she wanted to be included in.

"Hey," she heard someone nearly squeal, interrupting him before he could answer. She looked up to see a woman with some travel gear similar to theirs approaching them. "I haven't seen you guys here in awhile."

"Hey, Chris how's it going?" he smiled up at her. The woman dropped her bags a few feet away from them before walking over, adjusting the infant boy in her arms. "Where's Kelly?"

"Oh, she went to go park the car. I decided to take Grayson and come grab our spot before someone snatched it up," she said before lifting her sunglasses to rest on top of her head. "Oh my God she's crawling," the lady said turning her attention to Adeline.

Olivia couldn't help but smile at the woman's acknowledgement of her daughter's accomplishment and the baby herself even took the time to look up at the woman, smile and babble something before going back to trying to escape the blanket.

"Yeah, she just started a couple of weeks ago," Olivia said as she picked Adeline up as it seemed she was hell bent on crawling into the grass and getting grass stains on the pretty dress she had put on her. She was sure it would end up filled with dirt, grass and food items by the time they left, but this early on she was still ready to fight the good fight.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Chris said suddenly extending her hand, "You must be Olivia. I'm Chris, I've heard so much about you." Olivia smiled and greeted the woman.

The talkative woman continued to engage them in conversation until another woman, Kelly, who Olivia would later learn was her wife walked up and tried to get her to leave them alone. The two women set up their stuff a little ways away from them but the puppy they had brought with them kept wandering over to their blanket. It was probably because Adeline kept trying to get after it and he was just as excited about playing with her, probably because she was more mobile and interactive than the younger baby the other couple had.

"Maybe, I should get her a puppy," Jake said as they watched how well the baby and puppy played together. Adeline smiling the entire time and squealing in delight occasionally.

"Mm," came Olivia's simple reply. "Don't get her a puppy."

They stayed out most of the day, just talking and joking around, eating, listening to the music and people watching. Adeline had even taken a short nap. She was almost disappointed when he told her it was time to go at around five. She'd asked why he wanted to leave and he explained that he had dinner reservations for them at eight and that they were already pushing it since it would take her forever to get ready. She told him that he should've told her that so she could have decided on what she would wear before hand, he just smiled at her.

She helped him pack up everything and made their way back to the apartment to find Lauren waiting for them. She gladly took Adeline off of their hands, and began feeding her her dinner while they started getting ready. It wasn't until she got out of the shower wrapped in her robe that she noticed the dress, heels, and jewelry that had been set up in her room. Her mouth fell open for a couple of reasons, his thoughtfulness being one and the other being that she loved the dress and shoes. The dress was all black, sleeveless with a high circle neckline that fell loosely all the way down and the shoes were a pair of simple black, ankle strap heels with the toes out.

"Liv I really hope you're ready, or we're going to be late," he said putting on his blazer.

"Did you pick this out," she said turning to him but pointing to the the dress and shoes that lay on her bed. If he said yes, she was prepared to pull him into her room throw him on the bed and fuck him into a state of debilitation.

"Uh no," he said giving himself a once over in the mirror, "Anna and Abby. One said something about being too frumpy the other said something about being too revealing, so I just let them handle it," he finished oblivious to how much everything he had done that day as well as the heart eyes he'd been giving her throughout the day had turned her on. Her body was literally humming for him, but she would have to wait until after dinner. She wanted to finish enjoying the day he had planned for her.

"I hope you like..." he said as he gave himself a once over in her full length mirror. He had just turned around to face her and was cut short of finishing his thought by her lips crashing into his as she pressed her body into him. It only took a second for him to start kissing her back, two for him to completely process what was happening, and three for him to reach out to grab her hips and deepen the kiss.

She stopped him by pushing him back. Well aware of the lack of clothing she had on and how quickly things could escalate and they only had forty five minutes to get to the restaurant. She pulled away from him, but he stopped her by tightening his grip on her hips.

"Should we skip dinner?" He'd had no idea where that came from, but he wasn't going to question it. He'd be willing to forgo the rest of his carefully planned day.

She smiled and began walking him backwards towards the door. "No," she smiled up at him knowing that the same thought had just crossed her mind. "You're going to need your energy."

She pressed her lips back to his, giving his bottom lip a quick nip before stepping away and closing the door in his face. She turned and looked at the dress, smiling to herself because she knew he was still on the other side of the door trying to figure out what would be the quickest way to get through dinner and back to one of their apartments.

* * *

"Here," he said sliding the envelope over to her.

"Wow, more gifts," she said, as she picked up the card. He only smiled and gave her that look again.

She opened the pale rose colored envelope and smiled at the child-like drawings on the front of the card. With happy mother's day written out in messy handwriting. She opened the card, and sat the extra envelope that had fallen out aside as she read it. On one side it read, "Sorry for the bad drawings, hopefully the kid's more talented than I am." She smiled and went on to read the other side that contained a very heartfelt message clearly written by Jake and not the manufacturers of the card. She smiled and blinked back a few tears before opening the other envelope. Her brow furrowed when she saw that it contained four airline tickets. A look of surprise came over her face when she saw that the destination was Marseille.

She knew that she had said to him more than once that she wanted to go back and visit, but she could never really find a good time to take off and leave the country.

"They're not actual boarding passes," he told her, a smile on his face after seeing that he had succeeding in pleasing her with his gift. "You'll get the real one when you decide when you want to go. It's more a way to get you to make a promise to yourself that you'll go."

She shook her head in disbelief, before looking up at him. "Jake," she said before looking back down at the tickets in her hand. "Why are their four?"

"I figured you'd want to take some people," he explained. "Anna...Abby...Quinn. A girl's get away, or whatever you guys call it."

She looked up at him and he smiled and she could tell that he was pleased with himself. "Jake I don't," she tried but he cut her off, knowing what she was about to say.

"You do deserve it and you are going to use it because I'm going to tell them that you are holding their vacation ticket hostage and they won't leave you alone until you use it," he told her. "Besides," he said becoming more serious, "it's my way of saying thank you."

"For what?" a look of confusion coming over her face. She knew that there was a lot that they could thank each other for but she could think of nothing she'd done recently.

"Giving birth to my daughter," he told her, humbly. She felt her heart and other parts of her body warm, but he went on. "I know that it wasn't really planned and you had a lot going on, still do. And I know that I wouldn't have been your first choice to father…," he trailed off, and she looked down, knowing that the thought hurt him. It hurt her as well, and it was also untrue. Had she had a choice, he would have been her first. She didn't realize it until after she actually found out she was pregnant, but still he was her first choice. The situation wasn't, but he was. "What I'm trying to say is, I know you had other plans and other options. So thank you for bringing my daughter into the world, even though I'm her father." He gave a self deprecating smile before taking a sip from his wine glass.

She just stared at him for a moment, taking in all that he had just said. He was right. She had options and she had weighed those options, she had also considered the alternative and made her decisions based on that as well as on what she wanted, as best she could anyway because she was definitely confused about what she had wanted at the time the decision was made. But she had gone with the one that had made the most sense and felt that her confusion had served to push her in the right direction. She had been confused about getting the abortion, not about having the baby if that made sense. She didn't think it made sense outside of her head, she doubt anybody's reason for making decisions like this did, but it had made sense to her. She shook her head. "Jake I didn't choose to have Adeline despite you being her father, I kept her because you were her father."

His mouth opened to reply but nothing came out. She could tell he was genuinely surprised by her confession. She looked down at her hands in her lap, again trying to blink back a few tears. She couldn't imagine not having their little girl in her life, and her gut twisted at the thought that a simple slip up under different circumstances could have caused her to make the decision that would have resulted in her not having her daughter right now. It was true, all of it, and she couldn't imagine her or her child having to endure the implied alternative.

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knew that she didn't regret having Adeline but he figured it had all come after actually getting to meet the baby after giving birth. He never doubted her love for the child and knew that she would make the same decision a thousand times over knowing what she knew now. He just never thought that he had played a positive factor in her deciding to keep the pregnancy. He didn't think it was possible, but the little piece of his heart that the woman sitting in front of him and the little girl that looked just like her hadn't managed to melt into a puddle began to do just that.

She watched as a smile came to his face and she couldn't help the one that came to her face in response. She knew that he believed her and finally they were on the same page about something they hadn't known that they were at odds about. "I mean we've been through some crazy things together," she said flirtatiously, "we can manage to raise a kid, right?"

He didn't respond, and the smile he wore turned more into a contemplative smirk. She saw his jaw clench as he swallowed and that innocent, loving look he had in his eyes all day turned into something more carnal as his eyes drifted from her face down to her body, taking in as much of it as he could see being that she was hidden behind the table. She felt a pool of moisture gather between her thighs.

"You wanna get out of here?" he rumbled. Her reply was to return the look, a seductive smile playing on her face, before she stood, grabbed her clutch and began strutting towards the exit of the restaurant, leaving him to chase his way after her.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, most importantly, hope you guys enjoyed. Feel free to review if you did or didn't. I will try to fix typos later.**

**Now the drama I've been dealing with in my inbox...SMH...**

**So the first one is me replying to here for some shit she came on one of the parodies I posted trying to talk slick. I know, don't feed the animals right...I was in a mood.**

_Me (In April sometime back when this all started): Because I'm in that mood...Fuck you bitch! Seek me out and say that shit to my face and see if I beat that ass like a 13 year old. I shouldn't even entertain your pathetic, internet thuggin' ass, but fuck it! It's Friday, and I ain't doing shit else. You sad bitches always trying to seek out attention but all you are doing is letting everyone know how fucking miserable you are. What kind of sorry self important assholes go around seeking out shit to antagonize people about? Those that don't have anything of value in their actual real lives, that's who. I really kinda feel a little sorry you must be exceptionally unhappy. All the shit to do in the world and seek out on the internet and you still focus on the things you view negatively. But bitch keep on keeping on, it just lets me know that I'm doing something right. I right this shit for my enjoyment, I don't expect everyone to like it. Hell I don't think anyone who writes does, but what simple minded douche nozzles like you fail to realize is that any reaction to any type of writing you do is a win. So thank you for letting me know that what I wrote moved you to the point of feeling the need to reply. But, I will say it once more in case it wasn't clear the first time...This trolling/negativity shit doesn't bother me because I am not a fucking 12 year old (or 13 year old to better fit your narrative) that needs constant reassurance of acceptance. One thing you can be sure of though is that you don't want to see grown ass me or 13 year old me. Bet that shit. Thanks for the review Hatin' Ass Trick Bitch._

_Her or It (I'm honestly not sure): May 22Aaawww look who's butt hurt. Why you mad? LOL! I forgot all about this shit, don't be mad look the other 4 people who read actually liked it so. . .you have four whole dedicated readers!_

_Me: May 22Bitch shut your wack as up. You hoes always wanna try and act like you hurt somebody's feeling when I've already told you and the rest of those pathetic bitches you don't have that power. People get tired of yall and have to put you hoes in your place, simple as that. And if you over it so fucking much why the fuck are you responding to it two months later? Sad bitch. And 4 reviews don't affect me any, especially not on a piece that wasn't even written to draw reviews, dumb bitch. Learn genre and expectations, context and all that shit before you try to comment on something because that's one thing yall are good for is removing context from everything just to make a point based in an alternate reality. One thing for sure though my views stay up, even in a trashy ass fandom that you and your your stupid ass friends have polluted and diluted of people who actually are positive and have lives. There are a whole bunch of people that like the show and want to but have't joined the fandom because they don't want to be associated with people of your kind. Hell I joined it by mistake, I didn't know you trashy bitches were in here living and thriving until I was already in. So what does that say about you that people avoid something because of you. That means that you hold a trait that they consider repulsive, they don't value the shit that you are offering because it is of no value. It takes away from the shit they already have going on, and adds nothing of value to them. You hoes are worthless, literally people associate you with worthlessness. Probably less than that as you take away value from things. You are beyond worthless. And honestly, most of the views is probably from you bitches. Yall probably know what every Olake story on this site is about, meanwhile I couldn't even tell you about one of your stories, you know why bitch, cause I don't live a sad, pathetic, miserable and empty life, which means I don't have the time to go out scouting shit that I dislike just to spew negativity at other people. You bitches really need to get your lives together, just a sad, sorry sack of hoes._

_It: May 29Bitch if I didn't hurt your wack ass feeling you wouldn't be writing paragraphs that I'm not reading b/c its just as stupid as your wack ass fan-fiction._

_Me: May 29Okay clearly you are one of those sad as self important dumbasses. I'm glad that you think highly enough of yourself to think that you could possibly hurt my feelings. I'm not weak like your dumbass. Keep on thinking you hurt my feelings, but while you're at it try to get some people in your life that care enough about you or your opinion for you to actually hurt their feelings. You bore me hoe, stay the fuck up out of my inbox laughable ass useless bitch._

_It: 3h agoObviously I hurt your feelings you bum bitch still writing paragraphs that are not being read. Your a bum bitch who can't take an ounce of criticism. Which is why you will never be good at this. The only sentence I said in your review was "Who wrote this a 13 yr old" and from that your oversensitive ass exploded. Just a like a child. Bye bum bitch!_

_Me: 2h agoReally? You goal clearly was to hurt someone's feeling, you are for whatever reason convinced that you hurt my feelings, but still you are arguing with me. I mean, in your mind you accomplished your goal, but you're still angry. I call that the Miserable Bitch Syndrome. But then again we knew that about you already didn't we? You are just a sad, worthless waist of human parts. Like you can't even come back with anything. I have read you your entire life because you idiots expose just who you are on these interwebs, and you really just can't say shit when someone calls you out for what you are. If I'm so talentless why even waist your precious time commenting? Again, a symptom of MBS. You need a life._

**(blank stare)...why is she here? Can somebody please come get her, its like, what am I supposed to do with this. I should just stop responding but I'm not going to lie, I was a psych minor and this shit is thought provoking, sad...but still. I swear I feel like we are separated into different dimensions sometimes and are interacting with each other without even knowing it. Like maybe in her dimension the sky is green and grass is blue and has clouds and that's what I call sprinklers in my dimension, and she's someone whose opinion I should care about... I don't get it**


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: You asked for smut people and you got it. For the record, I'm not ashamed. Well maybe a little bit, but not for the reasons you may think. I haven't written smut in a minute. Like intended, whole chapter, just straight fucking (which is a good song by the way if you haven't heard it) smut, so this is a little mild compared to what I'm used to writing I feel like so I'm just trying to find my groove with this again. It took me forever to write this, like weeks and I used to be able to sit down and write a whole chapter of smut in like an hour or two, but we'll see. Hopefully with some practice I can get back to being able to write unadulterated raunchiness. In the mean time, please enjoy some mild Olake raunch and let me know what you think in the reviews. I am trying to get back around to actually reading fanfiction so I can leave comments for you guys, but life. I'm gonna do it though! And I would like to thank everyone for their reviews. Your feedback really does mean a lot and I really enjoy reading them and looking at you guys' perspective on what's going on in the story. It's interesting how I write it with one thing in mind and you guys see that but other stuff too, and I'm just like yeah, I meant to do that LOL. **

* * *

She stood in the elevator shifting slightly from her left to right leg as she tried to regain control of her body. She turned her head slightly to the left, not wanting to make full eye contact with him but trying to see if he was having just as hard a time as she was as they shared the elevator with one of her neighbors. She got a slight glimpse of him and saw that he was standing statue still, his hands in his pockets as he looked up at the ceiling of the cart. Her eyes drifted down to the seat of his pants and the bulge there was the only indication he showed of what they had been doing before stepping out of the privacy of his car.

She let out a frustrated sigh, as she flipped her hair over her left shoulder before moving to fiddle with the earring in her right ear. She could feel another gush of fluid at her core spilling over onto her thighs. She rolled her eyes at the little old lady who rode the elevator with her little dog. She could have had her first orgasm by now, she was already halfway there, thanks to their ride home. They had teased each other from the time he pulled out of the parking lot of the restaurant and pulled onto the highway. She knew that he was in no position to actually thwart her efforts so she had teased him mercilessly with lazy hand jobs and kisses at red lights that she would pull away from as soon as he started to settle into it. She had even given him somewhat of strip tease, or torture, as she had slowly rid herself of her black lace panties, seductively, but kept herself covered with her dress. He had reached for her at that moment but she pushed his hands away. That made him snatch her panties from her hands which was why they currently rested in his back pocket instead of on her body. During her teasing, his fingers had managed to find their way between her thighs. She had tried to wriggle away but it was only so far she could go in the front seat of his car. So he had worked her over, only to pull away when she was about to climax. Her eyes had popped open and she had looked at him as if she was going to attack him for doing so, but he had announced simply, "We're home." He had smiled at her before opening the door and exiting the car. She'd huffed and done the same, begrudgingly.

"You two have a goodnight," the old lady said, causing both of them to break from their own thoughts.

Olivia forced a smile as they both replied, "Goodnight," almost in unison.

She let out a loud sigh, knowing that once the doors closed, they'd be free to continue what they had started on their way back to her apartment. Her hands were burning to get back onto his body.

"Oh," the little old lady said turning slow in the doorway of the elevator preventing it from closing, "you're the couple with that gorgeous little baby."

It caught them both a little off guard as they were both thinking the same thing. They recovered quick enough and both smiled at the woman.

"Yeah," Olivia said after a short, forced laugh.

"How is she?" the woman asked but didn't give them a chance to reply. "She's just the sweetest little thing. I always see her with the other girl...Linda."

"Lauren," Olivia corrected, still trying to be polite.

"Oh, that's right," the lady laughed. "Linda's my daughter's name. I have a daughter named Amy as well. I always get the two of them mixed up. And sometimes I get them mixed up with my nieces." She laughed, and they did as well.

"Goodnight ma'am," Jake said stopping the woman before she could speak again. Olivia smiled as he confirmed he was just as anxious as she was as he tried to politely dismiss the elderly woman.

"Goodnight," she said stepping out of the door. She turned around again. "And if you ever need a babysitter just knock on my door. My great grandchildren are usually here a few days out of the week. One of them is around her age."

Jake nodded as the doors thankfully started to close. "We will," Olivia offered. "Goodnight."

"Well, that," he tried to say as the door closed, but before he could get anything else out, Olivia was on him.

He placed his hands on her hips and dipped his head to deepen the kiss as he backed her up towards the doors of the elevator. She moaned into his mouth just as her back came into contact with the wall. Not being able to go any further, he lifted her and she instinctively wrapped her legs around him, her hands moving from the sides of his face to the back of his head and shoulders. She nipped at his lips but quickly let go with a gasp as she felt one of his fingers push into her, quickly followed by another as her panties were already gone and she was completely exposed to him.

"Oh my god," she panted as his lips travelled down to her neck. She moaned again as his thumb found her sensitive bundle of nerves.

He smiled to himself as he fingers became coated with the juices that were flowing from her. He pulled his face away from her neck and gave her lips a quick peck before pulling away as she continued to grind her hips against his fingers. "Fuck, you're beautiful." She shivered in his arms.

"Fuck me," she panted against his lips. His already hard dick twitched in his pants as he pulled his fingers away from her and began to work at the buttons of his pants with one hand while still holding her up with the other. She began working at the buttons on his shirt.

Suddenly a bell rang, breaking them from their act of voyeurism. She came back to reality and realized that they hadn't actually made it to their destination. She wiggled in his arms as the doors open and he placed her back down on the floor. She turned quickly and stalked out of the elevator. She stopped when she got to the door, and turned to him, dodging his lips that were seeking out hers and placing her hand in his pockets to retrieve the keys. She turned back to the door, still out of breath and hurriedly unlocked and opened the door. They stumbled in and her keys and clutch hit the floor as she turned and grabbed his face drawing it back to hers.

Soon she found her feet leaving the floor again, then felt her bottom coming into contact with a cold surface as he sat her on the side table near the door. She wrapped her legs around him making sure he didn't move too far away. His mouth found hers again as she stuck her hand inside of his pants. She had just made contact with his hardened member when they heard someone clear their throat rather loudly, once again breaking them out of their lust induced trance.

Both their heads whipped around in the direction of which the sound came. Lauren smiled shyly at them and gave them a wave.

"Lauren," Olivia said as she placed a hand on Jake's chest to try to create some space between them, "hey." She hopped down off of the table and walked into the entryway of the living room while Jake looked down at the floor, trying to recompose himself.

"How'd everything go?" she asked, seeing that the woman was not holding her daughter which thankfully meant that she was asleep. That would have been a bit of a mood killer if they'd had to come home and try to get their daughter to go to sleep.

"Everything was fine," Lauren reassured them with a smile. "She went out about an hour ago. She was really tired, so you shouldn't hear a peep out of her for the rest of the night," she smiled knowingly. Lauren cleared her throat again. "How was your night?"

Olivia watched as the woman's eyes drifted down and slightly to her right. She couldn't help but follow the woman's line of sight and turned slightly herself to find that Jake had wandered up next to her. She immediately saw what Lauren was looking at as he hadn't bother to fix his pants. Olivia turned quickly back to the woman as she felt a small blush come to her face.

She turned slightly back towards Jake, "Put it away," she nodded towards his crotch. He had been oblivious before but quickly realized that it was not only obvious to him.

"I can't," he told her. "It's a little hard to put back in once it's out." Olivia quickly turned and scowled at him, and Lauren snickered at the whole scene.

"Seriously?" Olivia said, to which he replied only by shrugging his shoulders.

"I'm gonna head out now," Lauren said walking towards them. "You guys can just pay me later. I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight," she said walking around Olivia's things that lay on the floor as she went to grab her coat from the closet in the entry space. "Have a goodnight," she said teasingly.

"Goodnight," Jake said loudly, as he too had found the humor in the whole exchange.

"Goodnight Lauren," Olivia said as she went to let the woman out. She locked the door behind her and smiled at the fact that they likely wouldn't be interrupted again before she got what she so badly wanted. She walked back over to Jake and took in his disheveled form. His shirt was completely open and the bulge in his pants was beckoning her. She did her best to ignore it and walked past him quickly, taking her shoes off as she made her way down the hall towards the nursery.

She flipped the lightswitch once she got there and quietly made her way into the room, peeking over the side of the crib to check on the baby. She was sound asleep, so she quickly turned and made her way back towards the door, closing it some but leaving a small opening. She turned and saw Jake standing against the opposite wall with the monitor receiver in his hand. Her eyes flickered back down to the bulge in his pants that still showed itself proudly.

"You're ridiculous," she said as she grabbed a hold of the front of his pants, giving a tug to get him to follow her towards her bedroom.

"Well, I couldn't 'put it away' as you suggested," he smiled down at her as he willingly followed her down the hall. "It doesn't go down as easily as it goes up. It would have gotten caught in the zipper and that would have ruined the fun for everyone." He finished with raised eyebrows, causing her to smile.

"Mmm," she bit her bottom lip as she looked down at his bare chest. He just watched her, trying to keep himself from pouncing.

"What was that you said earlier in the elevator?" he said as they entered the threshold of the bedroom.

She took the monitor from him and sat it on her dresser as a playful look came over her face. "I'm not sure what you're talking about," she told him.

"Oh," he said as he stopped walking towards her, "then I guess it must not have been that important."

He started to turn away from her but she grabbed onto his shirt. "Don't you dare."

He just looked down at her, his eyes roaming her body as she took a few steps back from him. She lowered the zipper to the dress some and pushed it off of her shoulders, allowing the loose fabric to fall to the floor, not having put a bra on and with her panties still in the pocket of his pants, she stood completely bare before him. His eyes continued to roam her body before she started to move again, this time towards him.

She bought her hands to the opening of his pants and gently began palming his member, causing his breath the hitch. His eyes left her body and he looked into her eyes. "Fuck me Jake," she said seductively and the next thing she registered was her back hitting the soft cushioning of her bed as he knelt down on the floor between her legs.

She pushed herself into a half sitting position and looked down at him as he placed a kiss on her left hip bone and then her right, before repeating the same gesture with her inner thighs, sucking at her arousal that had started to make its way there. She opened her mouth to say something but all rational thought and speech left her as his mouth met its final destination.

She whimpered. "Fuck," she moaned as her head fell back as one hand went to entangle itself in his hair. He dipped his tongue inside of her briefly, causing her hips to buck into his face involuntarily, before withdrawing.

"Jake," she said weakly looking down at him in an attempt to scold him, but was rendered speechless as his tongue gave her a firm stroke from her opening up to her button where he proceeded to wrap his lips around it in a suckling motion. She felt her body grow weak as she fell back to the bed, both her hands now pulling gently at his hair. It seemed he was going to finish what he started in the car more quickly than either of them had anticipated.

He smiled against her as he heard her moans and whimpers beginning to fill the air as she started to wriggle away from him.

He took both his hands and placed them on her hips, and pulled her back down to him, pressing his mouth more firmly into her soft wet center. At the motion he felt her give his hair a little less than gentle tug, but he remained firm in his efforts to make her cum as he knew she was close. He almost laughed out loud, probably would have if he could have when he felt her thighs clamp tight around his head, making it hard to continue his work as diligently as he would have liked to. He managed to turn his head slightly to the left, and gave her inner thigh a sharp, firm nip with his teeth sending a jolt at the point of contact that reverberated throughout her pelvis and lower spine. He heard her yelp almost as soon as he bit down before her legs fell back open, and he immediately latched on the bundle of nerves that were presented to him. He had made contact less than a second before he heard her gasp and felt her arching off of the bed before a long moan escaped her and a flood of wetness coated his tongue.

He smiled pleased with himself as he continued to lap gently at her. He could feel her legs trembling at the sides of his head, and only withdrew from her once he felt her tug on his ears, signaling that she had recovered enough.

He kissed her center once more before placing a firm, lingering kiss over womb, the significance of it not being lost on her. He would be lying if he said, that after the information that he had learned earlier in the night, that it didn't cross his mind about possibly being able to sell her on more kids later, pending things continued to look brighter for him than the other guy. He pocketed the thought away for a later conversation, right now he just wanted to focus on making her lose herself again. He placed a kiss at the bottom of her breast bone and dragged his tongue all the way up to her neck before he began sucking on the flesh there.

She let out a soft moan before pulling his mouth away from her neck and attaching her lips to his. She wrapped her legs around his waist and began grinding her hips up into his. He lifted himself slightly into a push-up position before reaching between them and positioning himself at her hot, slick center, his tongue still battling with hers for dominance.

Without any warning he pushed into her at a steady pace. Her mouth fell open into a gasp, releasing his tongue from their duel. He lightly grazed his teeth along her plump lip as she wrapped her arms around him as he continued to fill her.

"Oh," she whimpered, as he started placing light kisses around her mouth, "God." He responded with a grunt as he felt her walls flutter around him as he pushed the last of himself into her. He waited a second, his face now buried in her neck as her warm breath fell against the side of his face as she adjusted to him filling her space.

He felt her hands coming up to the sides of his face, and he lifted his head to look into her eyes. They only stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds, his eyes drifting down to her mouth momentarily before flickering back up to her eyes again. There was so much being said between them in those moments, but so much that still needed to be hashed out because even though they were on the same page, one of them, mostly Olivia had a habit of trying to not only change pages but change books as quickly as possible to avoid whatever it is that was trying to grow between them.

She reached up and brushed some of his hair out of his face as the other hand caressed his cheek, igniting the nerve endings there as it brushed against the stubble that had gathered. There was something new between them, she could feel it as she looked into his eyes. Well if she was being honest, it wasn't new, just a lot harder to deny. She stared trying to decided if she wanted to figure out or brush aside these feelings that had her wanting to attach herself to this man in a more permanent way, which was saying a lot considering the child they shared.

"I love you," the words fell from his lips without a second thought.

It caught her off guard, as it always did, though she didn't know why. She knew this already. The thing that surprised her the most though was when she felt herself smiling up at him instead of the usual look of distress and rejection that she knew usually adorned her face after such a declaration.

She lifted her head slightly and pressed her lips to his, engaging him in a tender kiss which prompted him to begin moving his hips, pistoning in and out of her at a strong, steady rhythm. A long moan left her as she began raking her nails down his back. It didn't take long for her to get that familiar tingling sensation in her spine as she felt her toes starting to curl, a string of jumbled up words leaving her mouth, the only coherent one being his name. She felt herself reaching her peak again, and then suddenly he withdrew from her.

She opened her mouth to protest, but was only able to gasp as she found herself being flipped onto her stomach. He was now sitting behind her on his hunches. She suddenly found herself being gathered into his arms, her legs still straddling his as she sat backwards on his lap.

"Oh, fuck," she moaned shakily as he suddenly entered her again from behind. "GOD! YES! FUCK... ME!"

He continued to press her body to his with the hand that rested on her stomach, while he placed the other hand on her cheek and turned her head slightly to his before capturing her mouth again, not wanting her to wake the baby. He loved it when she got like this, letting go completely of the refined, in control business woman. Admitting to him that he could get to her, a part of her she tried to shield, and break her in ways and places that she would normally not willingly admit to.

He told her such, and she arched her back before beginning to thrust her hips wantonly back onto his lap, as if admitting that he was right. He took the hand that had been resting on her face and brought it around to her back side, landing a firm smack to her ass.

She let out a sharp gasp, slightly surprised but even more turned on as it was followed by a long moan as she stared back at him. She was a mess. She knew it, but she couldn't help it. They always had passionate love making sessions but the fact that the man had basically had her ready to rip her clothes off and offer herself to him only hours after waking for the first time that day, well her body and her mind was betraying her usual game of playing hard to break. The only coherent thought other than the naughty ones that were spilling from her mouth, was the fact that she didn't want it to stop. That was why when he landed another firm hand to her ass and squeezed, she reached back, wrapping her arm around his neck and pulled his mouth towards hers, not wanting to wake the sleeping child in the next room.

He continued to grip her ass as he pounded into her relentlessly. The hand that was at her front, snaked down and found her button, making her release his mouth. She looked at him with hooded eyes, his image hazy as she felt herself getting close again. He pressed his forehead to hers as he continued to work her button while repeatedly penetrating her from behind. He could feel her body trying to hold him there every time he withdrew from her, only for her ass to bounce back into his lap, meeting him on the return. He had her right where he wanted her and he knew it. She had him too, even if she didn't know it. "Cum for me, Olivia," he panted against her lips.

Her mouth fell open and brow drew together as she did shamelessly. She would probably regret her inability to control herself later, mostly likely when he would bring it up later to prove a point or teasingly, but right now regret was not even a word in her vocabulary. Her vision faded out as her body continued to spasm around him, eliciting a grunt from him as her quivering wetness drew him to his own release only a couple of thrusts later. She let out something between a whimper and a moan, as her body involuntarily rocked back into his, as she felt his hot seed spilling into her, milking him of every drop.

He felt her go completely slack in his arms and they both fell forward, out of breath and not necessarily having regained complete control of their bodies. He placed a quick kiss on her shoulder, before rolling off of her and onto his back beside her.

It was silent for a few moments, the only sound filling the room being their hard breathing. Then he spoke, "That was…," he stopped himself, already feeling his chest swell. "Did you finish?"

Her head turned quickly to face his direction, to see if he was serious? Her limbs was still numb, not only had she finished, she was done. Then she saw the self satisfied grin on his face.

She hit him in the chest as they both started laughing. "Shut up." He snaked his arm under her and pulled her into him. "I hate you."

"Yeah, you're gonna have a hard time convincing me of that right now," he said and she smiled up at him.

"Oh, you know what I feel like eating," she said enthusiastically as she placed her hand on his chest, and looked up at him. Sure they had gone out to dinner but that was more than a few hours ago and she was pretty sure she had just burned all of those calories.

"I am not going out and getting you Gettysburger," was his solemn response.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Liv, it's like one thirty in the morning," he told her, in disbelief that she was really doing this. It was different when they were at their respective apartments and he had to actually go outside in order to get to hers when she called him over.

"So what?"

"So," he glanced at the clock, "they close in like fifteen minutes. You know if I go now they're just gonna give us the leftover crappy stuff that's been sitting there."

She pushed herself up with the hand that rested on his chest and peered over him at the clock that rested on her night stand. He was right. She sucked her teeth, before laying her head back on his chest and staring at a spot on the wall. It was silent again for a few moments before she spoke again. "So who's going to get up to make the sandwiches?" she asked looking up at him.

They stared at each other for a few seconds before he responded with a raised fist. "I'll rock, paper, scissors you."

She had just lifted her hand when they heard the disturbance coming from the monitor on the night stand.

"Be quiet, maybe she'll go back to sleep," was his quick and hushed response. She couldn't help but laugh at him. They baby clearly couldn't hear them talking. If they hadn't woken her up before, that wasn't what was disturbing her now. She reached over him and grabbed the monitor and clicked on the screen.

Even though she knew the child couldn't hear or see them, that didn't keep both of them from watching the screen with bated breath as the child tossed and turned, antsy cries intermittently accompanying her movements. Finally, she rose to her knees, her little eyes finally popping open as they searched the room. It only took a few seconds before she started to cry. They both let out the breaths they had been holding.

"You get her, I'll get the sandwiches?" he offered.

"Yep," she said as she crawled over him and out of bed. She quickly found his shirt and threw it on, walking out of the room as she finished the last few buttons. He followed her out of the door, pulling a pair of his sweatpants from one of her drawers and putting them on before doing so.

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**A/N: Alright you guys, I hope you enjoyed. And don't forget to leave a review. I hope Liv and Jake don't seem too out of character at the end. I mean we get to see them like this in the show but very rarely. I do believe they have a lot more playful, silly moments and tease each other. More than what we get to see in the show anyways. Oh, and I will do corrections later. Sorry, I should do them before but I get so happy when I actually finish a chapter I can't wait to share it lol.**

**Do you see Hilary pulling from that Olivia Pope closet of white suits? So that's why she was on set that day LOL. **


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: Hey guys. I know its been a while but I've been trying to figure some life stuff out. Trying to get back into writing again. I've been working on this chapter for a while and would appreciate reviews from more of those viewers lurking out there. Feedback is always nice :). And for those of you in the Richonne fandom, don't worry, I finished a new chapter for that one too. I actually finished that one first since it gets more reviews, but I just sent it to my Beta for that story so she's still working on it, but I'll post as soon as I can. I can't wait, to get my Olake fix. Like I love the fact that Kerry's just procreating to her hearts contents, but she's killing me lol. But I'll survive...off of my other OTPs. But my viewing pleasure isn't complete without all of my OTPS. Enjoy!**

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"Are you sleeping with her?" was the question that tumbled out of her mouth.

He wouldn't lie, it caught him off guard a little. Not that she usually beat around the bush any more with these types of questions, but he just hadn't seen that slightly sharp turn that the conversation had just taken coming.

They were in her kitchen, preparing dinner for the dinner party she had decided to throw since Stephen was back in town. Well he was preparing dinner, she was helping. He didn't know how he had gotten roped into doing this when he had only gotten to invite his friends as an after thought. Not that most of the people that would be attending weren't his friends, they were just all her friends first.

She was currently perched on top of the counter top next to the stove where he was currently stirring a pot. Adeline was in the living room with her godmother and godfather. The rest of their guests would be arriving later. The topic of their current conversation had come up when his phone chimed and it just so happened that it had been closest to Olivia, so without hesitation she had looked over at the screen, saw something that peaked her interest and picked up the phone. He had seen the look on her face and figured it was a text from the girl he was currently dating, who Olivia hadn't met. He had been dating her for a while, and though Olivia knew about her she didn't know enough to satisfy her interest.

"Uhh, I don't think that's any of your business," he told her, stretching his eyes but not looking at her as he dumped the bowl of vegetables into the pot.

He could see the look she gave him from the corner of his eye, letting him know that he was starting to get on her nerves a little by not just providing her with the information she wanted. "Of course it's my business," she retorted. "If you're sleeping with me, I think that I have a right to know who else you're sleeping with."

"Are you sleeping with anyone else?" he asked as he looked up at her and leaned on the counter, folding his arms as he turned towards her.

The perturbed look she had on her face disappeared as she sat up straighter, realizing that she was going to have to play the game as well if she was going to get the information that she wanted. "Not currently," she told him. "No."

"Oh," he told her as he stood straight and walked over to the sink where the colander of potatoes were. "Well good for you."

"Jake," she said almost whining. She knew that he wasn't going to give right away. After all, the information that he had was more exclusive than whatever information she would have just disclosed.

"Okay, yes," he said and her face instantly grew a frown. "Sometimes," he said feeling like he was in trouble but knowing that he truly had nothing to hide.

She watched him silently for a few more seconds as he went about continuing to prepare the meal. He purposefully tried to avoid eye contact with her. He remembered the first time he had introduced her to Parker, she had not been particularly nice to the woman.

"How serious are you two?" she asked him.

"Serious enough," he told her, not sure exactly what she wanted him to say. That was a broad question and she obviously wanted something specific but he wasn't sure what, so he would answer broadly as to avoid divulging any info that she wasn't actually looking for but that would upset her none the less.

"How serious?" she demanded.

"I haven't brought Addie around her, if that's what you're asking," he told her.

"Does she even know about Addie?" she asked.

"Of course she does Liv," he told her. "That question usually comes up pretty early in the process and it's not something that I would try to hide and spring on someone at the alter."

"Oh," she said clearly offended by something he had just said and he had an idea what it was, even though he was speaking in general terms. "So you plan on making it to the altar with her?"

He took a deep breath and blew it out. "No, that's not what I said."

"Well does she knows that she's just a fling then?" she questioned. He couldn't tell if she was angry with him, the woman, or both. He had a feeling both.

"She's not a fling," he told her.

"So then there is a chance that you could make it to the altar with her then?" she questioned again.

"Olivia," he said closing his eyes to try to get the strength to have this conversation with her.

"Fine," she said hopping, starting hit the screen of his phone. "If you won't tell me how serious you two are," she attempted to snatch his phone off of the counter. "Maybe we'll just have to invite her over so I can ask her for myself."

"Hey," he said grabbing a hold of the hand that clutched his phone. "Nice, thought, but I don't think so." He stepped between her legs as a mischievous smile came to her face and she forced him to pry the phone from her hand.

"What?" she asked grabbing onto the sides of his t-shirt to keep him in place. " I just want to meet her. I want what's best for you."

This caused him to start laughing, causing her to do the same. "Sure," he replied. "That's what it is. This isn't the adult equivalent of a child going around grabbing all the toys she doesn't even play with anymore screaming 'mine' as soon as company comes over."

She pouted, moved one hand to the collar of his shirt and pulled on it, causing his face to come closer to hers. The other hand went to his crotch and started caressing his manhood, causing him to plant his hands on the counter at her sides to keep him more upright. "I play with you," she said sultrily. He responded by crashing his lips to hers, initiating an intense make out session as her hand continued to work him into a semi erection before they were disrupted by someone clearing their throat rather loudly.

"Hey," she said, still breathing rather hard, Jake doing the same in her ear as he hid his face on the other side of hers and tried to regain his composure. "Is something wrong?" She watched as Stephen and Abby stood in the entryway to the kitchen with Adeline giving them playfully judging looks.

"I don't know," Stephen said as they stepped further into the kitchen. Jake stepped from between her legs and went back to tending to the meal that was still cooking. "Are we interrupting something? Do we need to leave? Cause we can just grab some takeout if you guys wanna continue to be gross all over the food," he continued earning him a slap on the shoulder from Olivia as she laughed at his poking fun.

"That would suck," he continued with a smile. "Because it actually smells pretty good."

"Oh, well thank you," Jake joined in. "It was all me. She," he pointed to Olivia, "had absolutely nothing to do with it."

She playfully knocked his hand away.

Abby, who was still a little thrown by what she had just witnessed turned to her best friend. "Liv, can I talk to you for a minute," she said as nonchalantly as she could.

"Yeah," she replied as she promptly hopped down off of the counter and walked towards the woman. She held out her hands and the baby smiled and practically fell into them. They then proceeded to walk out of the kitchen, through the living room, and down the hall to Olivia's bedroom. She then proceeded to sit on her bed, adjusting the baby in her lap.

"What?" she asked with a curious tone after seeing the smile on Abby's face. The redhead got straight to the point.

"Are you two officially together?"

Olivia gave her a look that implied she was being ridiculous. "What? No," she replied. "I told you, I'm on a break from..." she finished the sentence with random hand gestures.

"Oh," Abby said somewhat surprised. That wasn't the answer she was expecting. From what she had just witnessed she would have sworn. She had never seen Olivia this domestic, and open with her romantic feelings towards someone, well not since they were in their mid twenties. It was almost odd, but refreshing, seeing the woman like that. "Are you two having sex?"

"I didn't say I was I was taking a break from that," Olivia smiled as she bounced a grinning Adeline in her lap.

"Are you having sex with the President?" Abby asked, which made Olivia screw up her face as if she was going to say "Ew!" before she actually answered.

"No," she said shortly before rolling her eyes. Abby wanted to laugh. So now it was gross to suggest that she was sleeping with him. She wondered what had changed in the short amount of time.

"Are you over him?" Abby continued to question.

"To tell you the truth," she said gathering the baby and making to stand from the bed, "I haven't really thought much about him or it or, whatever, for the last few months." With that she walked out of the room, reflecting on what she had just revealed to Abby as well as herself. She hadn't noticed it until Abby brought it up but it was true. She had had a lot going on, she realized. Between work and her home life, her life was full again. Fuller than it had been in a really long time. She was always a person that needed something to do, someone to take care of, someone to need her, someone to fix. She liked the drama too. Well maybe not the drama itself, but the push-pull game to see who would come out on top that came along with it. And between her job, her clients, her friends, who she was now getting closer to or at least trying to, Ana, Jake, and Adeline her plate was full. And that was just the thing, she enjoyed having a full plate. She was a multitask-er, a conqueror of every thing, situation, and everyone. Her down time had mostly consisted of her taking the time to admire a good win and,more often now, spending time with the people she cared about. And she cared about Fitz, but it wasn't the same as with the people she now found herself growing closer to. This was more pure. With Fitz there was always a thing or a few things to murky the water. She could really pinpoint exactly why she cared about him and in which order she would rank those things, and the worst part about that was that some of the things that were actually on the list had nothing to do with him specifically at all. The more time she had away from the situation the clearer, or less clear depending on how you looked at it, things became. She would often find herself having a conversation with herself in her head that consisted a lot of things from, what have we been doing with our lives, to finally, we get it, now can we please move the fuck on with our lives.

Abby followed her friend out of the room to help her prepare to put the finishing touches on the dinner party set up.

She also actually tried to stir clear of those destructive behaviors she once used to revel in when she became stressed or was allowed too much free time to focus on her own flaws, or the traumas she had endured in her younger years. When these things would pile up and become too much, she would respond by intentionally lashing out, and the ways that she did that usually ended up throwing her personal life into upheaval. It was like an alcoholic who caused a lot of trouble for himself by drinking too much and when he became sober enough to realize the devastation he had caused, he would deal with it by drinking some more. It was a cycle, and she had managed to pull herself out of it somehow, her inspiration being her daughter and him, her lifeline back to the more sustainable lifestyle. Because now she actually had someone who could and was willing to bear however much of her load she was willing to allow him to. He was willing to bear it all if she needed him to, and sometimes she would let him, but she didn't think it fair to unload all of her baggage on to him all the time and honestly, there was some baggage that she just couldn't unload. And on the nights when those wounds were reopened, she found her comfort in his arms, just allowing him to hold her.

It was with these thoughts running through her head that she rounded the corner to see him, leaning on the counter, a beer in one hand as he discussed sports with Stephen. She smiled at him as she placed a kiss on their daughter's head. She often hoped that she provided for him what he provided or her. She knew of some of the baggage he carried and she had tried to save him from it, even if it that meant dragging him away from it kicking and screaming sometimes. She still knew. She knew she hadn't even really began to scratch the surface. She also knew that she hadn't been as firm as she could have been in what she felt for him and what he meant to her, but that too was becoming clearer as time went along. She hoped that he knew that no matter where they ended up in a romantic sense, that she too had committed herself to always be there for him. She often wondered what that meant for them going forward. If one of them found someone who they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with, would that person be able to accept them sharing a genuine and devoted friendship with the other parent of their child? Because at this point, she honestly couldn't see herself turning him away just because it would make her significant other uncomfortable and she was confident enough in her place in his life that she couldn't imagine another woman taking that spot away from her.

He spotted them and smiled at her before poking out his tongue and making a funny face, causing Adeline to giggle which brought a smile to her mother's face as well.

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Abby continued to watch her friend, well her friends now. She just wasn't buying what Olivia had told her earlier that night. There was just no way that they weren't together, officially that is. They were all sitting in Olivia's living room chatting and having drinks. Dinner had been great, with Jake trying to take the credit for most of it, but Olivia insisting that she helped significantly. She had been prepared to let the whole kitchen thing, and everything that had happened before that go until Olivia took a seat at the dinner table next to Jake, who was sitting at the head of the table holding their daughter. She would have guessed that Olivia would have sat at the other end, not only to interact with her guests at that end, but because she was Olivia and she could be bossy at times, for lack of a better word, and she always wanted to be at the head of the table, literally and metaphorically. She smiled and shared a look with Stephen when she saw the two of them team up on entertaining and feeding Adeline throughout dinner when the infant refused to sit in her high chair. The baby rested on Jake's knee, closest to Liv and he held her there with one hand while eating his dinner with the other, while Olivia took on the task of placing little bites of food either in the child's mouth or hand. What really threw her was when Liv cut and picked up a piece of the casserole, which she had made and which Jake was hesitant to try because of that fact, off of her plate and placed the fork to Jake's mouth. He took it without hesitation. It was a very intimate gesture for anyone and they looked extremely comfortable in doing it. He seemed surprised before telling her that it was good, to which she gave him a self satisfying told-you-so smile before turning and catching Abby's and Stephen's eyes. Both were staring at her and smiling goofy-ly. The smile instantly fell from her face as she rolled her eyes at them. They shared a laugh between the two of them before discussing briefly if their friend was in deeper with the father of her daughter than she was leading them to believe.

The little family unit vibe they had going on continued throughout the rest of the evening, but they still effectively managed to entertain their guests, mostly due to the fact that Adeline was a little spotlight stealer. Rather she was letting out a hearty laugh at something she found amusing, are trying to crawl her way out of her parents' arms to get next to an object she wanted but couldn't have, all the attention keep circling around back to her. She was now sitting in her father's lap as he sat in the large arm chair which Olivia had squeezer her way onto with him, her legs resting across his lap as well.

"Awww," Abby said with a slight smile as she looked at the adorable pouty face the baby was making. Her bottom lip jutted out and her big hazel eyes became wet with unshed tears as she looked back down at her hand where the sucker had been just a second ago before looking back up at the man who had been ordered to take it away from her. She threw a glance at Abby after hearing her proclamation before looking back at her father and gave a small sniff as she tried to hold back the tears.

"Aww, no, don't," was his reply to the little girl sitting on the table in front of him. Having made up his mind quickly at seeing the baby wouldn't let up as a crocodile tear fell from her right eye and rolled down her chubby little cheek, he turned to her mother who was sitting partially in his lap. "Liv, I'm giving it to her."

He said it with so much resolve and so much seriousness, but the look he gave her was questioning. They all laughed, but Jake continued to look at Olivia as he inched the sucker back towards the child. He had then made the mistake of giving the girl a sucker he had pocketed for her earlier when Olivia had told him not to, since she had already had some dessert from dinner. He had then taken it away, which had prompted the current exchange.

Olivia only stared at him unimpressed. "I'm gonna give it to her." He reiterated still staring at her but moving the sucker closer to the child. She continued to stare back at him, not daring him to do so, not stopping him, but letting him know that there was more than one sucker in this exchange. It wasn't until Adeline's little hand reached up and grabbed the sucker, immediately bringing it to her lips before it was taken away again, that he asked, "Are you mad at me?"

He reached his hand out to her but she playfully smacked it away as a smile came to her face. "You know you're going to have to tell her no one day," she informed him.

"Yes," he said resting his arm back behind Olivia's back on the arm rest. "When she asks to date." Everyone laughed.

"Stop it," Olivia said hitting him in the chest, lightly before taking the unfinished sucker from the baby who put up a fight this time.

She gripped tightly onto the stick with her now sticky hand. "Mmh mh mmh," she fussed as she tried to hold on, a high pitched scream leaving her as she lost her hold on her. She continued to cry.

"Well now you've done it," Jake said, still holding onto the child who was now standing in his lap.

"Addie, you've had enough," Olivia tried to reason with the child. Though she knew it was useless. For the last past hour the child had been fussing on and off and rubbing her eyes occasionally and it was now ten minutes past her bedtime. "You're going to have a tummy ache."

The baby responded by plopping down on her butt, removing the pacifier her father had plopped in her mouth to get her to stop wailing in his ear, and attempting to throw it, but it was more like dropping it on the floor since her motor skills hadn't developed enough for her to make an effective throw, before throwing a whole body tantrum by throwing herself back into her father's chest head first and starting to fuss again.

"That's it," Olivia said as she made to stand from her comfortable position, "you're done." She plucked the baby from his lap and proceeded down the hall to the nursery to get her cleaned and ready for bed as she continued to cry.

Jake looked after them, deciding to give them a few moments to duke it out themselves before getting up to help put his daughter down for the night. Rather Olivia wanted to admit it or not. Adeline was like a little baby her. And she could get her mother a little flustered every now and then when that strong will came out. He found that if he just stayed out of the way for a little bit, they were fine, but if he tried to calm the situation by inserting himself, he would sometimes get yelled at or bitten. So he'd learn to approach the situation with caution, though he didn't know how well that would work out when the girl became a teenager. He shook his head at the thought before getting up to follow them down the hall, and it wasn't long before they had Adeline down and they were free to enjoy the rest of the night with their guests.

* * *

"I'll be back a little late tonight," Olivia told Lauren, as she hurried around her apartment throwing the last few things she needed for the day into her bag . "I'll try to get home early enough to put her to bed, but she might be sleep by the time I make it home so if you don't mind bringing her by the office around three." She did have a lot to do today, or she hoped she did. She didn't know when the day would be that the FBI would come down on her father for money laundering, but she'd hoped that it would be before the week was out. It was driving her crazy waiting, and she honestly just wanted him behind bars she she could forget about him and enjoy her family.

"Sure," Lauren cooed to the baby as she bounced her on her hip causing her to giggle, "We can do that. Do you wanna visit your mommy at work today?" Adeline only smiled and grabbed for the woman's face.

Olivia smiled as she picked up her bag, glad that she had found someone as good and as reliable as Lauren. The woman really had become almost like family. Hanging around the office, she was sure Lauren had overheard a lot of things, some of them worst than the things she had unwillingly learned at the white house, but every time Olivia tried to talk to her about it, she would put her hand up and stop her saying that she didn't want to know any more and that her only job was to take care of the baby and keep her safe while they did whatever it was that they were doing. Olivia liked that as Lauren shared one of her top priorities, to keep Adeline away from the rest of the bullshit in her life.

"Yes she does," Olivia smiled as she took the baby from Lauren one last time, putting one hand on one side of her face and pressing her lips to the other cheek, causing to her chubby little cheeks to be squished and her rosie little lips to pucker out into an O shape. She laughed when she pulled away and saw the confused look on the baby's face, which caused Adeline to grin and grab for her face. She placed another kiss on the baby's lips before telling her bye and heading out of the door.

"Alright Ms. Addie," Lauren said as she walked into the nursery. "How about you take a nappy so you won't be cranky when you go and visit your mommy later on."

It was a little after noon and she had just fed the baby. She figured she'd lay her down for a quick nap since she had purposefully pushed it off until later, knowing that they would have an outing in the afternoon. The baby only babbled back at her as she was lowered into the crib. "No back talk missy," Lauren joked with her. The baby was more fun to take care of now because she was more interactive, but you could definitely see her little personality starting to kick in most, and thought Lauren didn't know Jake as well as she knew Olivia, she had a feeling it would be easier on her if the child developed more of her father's personality, but unfortunately that didn't seem to be the case. "You sleep now baby." she said before grabbing the monitor and leaving the room.

She proceeded to go to the kitchen and pour herself a cup of juice before making her way to the living room. She placed the monitor on the coffee table and grabbed the remote a turned on the television. She instantly becoming engrossed in the newest scandal they were reporting on. She shook her head in disapproval and frustration. The was the last thing she remembered as she didn't see the guy coming up behind her as he went to stick the syringe into her neck.

* * *

"Please, Quinn, don't forget to drop that folder off to Abby," Olivia said as she walked out of the conference room after having lunch with Quinn and Huck. Huck had already made his way out of the office to follow up on some side project he had going on.

"Don't worry Liv, I got it," she said. "But I don't see why you can't just drop it off yourself. You used to love going to the white house." Olivia gave her a look and she gave a mischievous grin.

"Kidding. Kidding," she held her hands up in self defense. Quinn loved messing with Olivia about her past lover. It was funny how the man went from a sore topic of a love unable to reach its full potential to that annoying guy who just didn't get the picture that her boss didn't like him the way that he liked her. "You need anything else while I'm out."

"No, I'm good," Olivia told her at she opened her office door to get to her ringing phone. "Just be careful."

"Will do," Quinn offered as she made her way to the exit. Normally she would tell Liv not to worry, but she knew the woman was a little more on edge lately due to everything going on with her father.

"Olivia Pope," she said answering the phone. She figured it was likely a client since it was from a number she didn't know.

"Hello my dearest daughter," Rowan said in his fake sweet tone.

"What do you want?" Olivia asked coldly, cutting straight to the point. She didn't want to be dragged into his games, not right now.

"Now is that anyway to talk to your father?"

"What do you want?" she repeated, this time in a sterner voice.

"Well," he replied, feigning slight offense. "I wanted to see if you wanted to have dinner with me later. Seven o'clock?"

"I don't think so," she told him, preparing to hang up.

"Why not? Do you have other plans?" he jumped in before she could.

"I'm not having dinner with you. Goodbye," she was about to hang up when she heard the unmistakeable sounds of an infant in the background. Her mouth fell open and her legs instantly weak as she held onto her desk.

"Aww, what's Grandpa's little sweetheart going on about?" he said clearly not talking to her anymore. She listened and had realized that she had started to sink closer to the floor as she listened to the exchange. "Yes, there you are," Olivia heard the infant again, though this time closer. "Olivia?" he called. No answer. "I assume you're still there," he said, and heir of cockiness now in his voice. "I assume I've convinced you to join me. Seven o'clock. Old Ebbitt Grill. It's a little louder, a little more fitting for my granddaughter to make all the noise she wants. I'll see you then. You can bring Jake a long too, since I'm sure he'll hear about this." With that he hung up.

She sat on the floor of her office, her back against her desk as tears streamed down her fear stricken face. How? How had he gotten her baby? Had her murdered Lauren to get to her? And what was he planning to do now that he had her? Would her really show up tonight at the restaurant with her or would it be a start of a wild goose chase to get her daughter back? The thoughts and questions overwhelmed her. It was too much for her to bear alone, so she picked up the phone and did the only thing her mind would allow her to do at the time. He picked up after three rings.

"Hey what's up Liv?" but he didn't get any answers. "Liv you there?" Still nothing. This caused him to start to panic a little. "Liv?" he called again trying to get her to answer, but she couldn't as she tried to swallow the lump in her throat to allow herself to speak. "Liv, what's wrong?" his voice came again through the speaker.

"He has her," she sobbed quietly into the phone, but still he heard her. "My father has our baby."

* * *

**A/N: Whew! So there it is. The next chapter. It was a lot of fluff in the beginning, which got destroyed in the end. But review. Let me know what you think. I'll correct errors at a later time. Hopefully tonight sometime. **


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